HANB-J300K()F 

Tree-Planting 


N.  H.  EGLESTON 


'tUM 


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C>(J.  A?Z'^i-<s-  /Ua-^ 


HAND-BOOK 


OF 


TREE-PLANTING; 


OR, 

WHY  TO  PLANT, 
WHERE    TO  PLANT, 
WHAT  TO  PLANT, 
HOW  TO  PLANT. 


BY 

NATHANIEL    H.    EGLESTON, 

CHIEF  OF  FORESTRY    DIVISION,  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE,   WASHINGTON. 


"Ye  may  be  aye  stickin'  in  a  tree,  Jock; 
it  will  be  growin'  when  ye're  sleepin'." 
— Scotch  Farmer, 


NEW  YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

I,   3,   AND  5   BOND  STREET. 
1884. 


Copyright,  1884, 
By  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction 7 


I. 

WHY  TO   PLANT. 

Little  planting  on  a  large  scale  with  us — More  engaged  in 
destroying  than  in  planting  trees  hitherto — Dearth  of 
trees  in  consequence — Effect  on  climate — Occasion  of 
floods  and  droughts — Evil  result  on  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures — A  change  of  sentiment  aris- 
ing— Better  appreciation  of  trees — Indispensable  to  hu- 
man life  and  comfort — They  preserve  the  balance  of 
natural  forces — Forest-planting  a  matter  of  interest  to  all. 

II. 

WHERE  TO   PLANT. 

Most  urgent  need  on  the  treeless  plains  of  the  West — How 
far  possible  to  clothe  those  arid  plains  with  trees — Con- 


4  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

tinued  civilization  impossible  without  trees — Encourage- 
ment already  afforded — Protection  against  blizzards — 
Former  tree-growth  on  the  prairies — Relation  of  rain- 
fall to  tree-growth — Large  groves  now  growing  in  West- 
ern Kansas  and  Nebraska — As  prairie-fires  are  stopped 
trees  grow — Hill-sides  and  mountain-slopes  from  which 
forests  have  been  cut  should  be  clothed  with  trees  again 
— These  are  the  sources  of  the  streams — Of  little  value 
for  tillage  purposes,  but  the  appropriate  home  of  the 
trees — Value  of  forest  property  all  the  while  increasing — 
Need  of  planting  in  California — Stony,  sandy,  and  swampy 
lands  best  utilized  by  planting  with  trees — Example  of 
planting  on  Cape  Cod — Example,  also,  of  Messrs.  Fay,  at 
Lynn  and  Wood's  HoU — Trees  do  not  exhaust  but  improve 
land — Estimated  profits  of  tree-planting — Planting  along 
railroads  for  snow-breaks  and  to  supply  ties  —  Trees 
cheaper  than  snow-plows — Consumption  of  forests  by 
railroads — Planting  on  street-borders — Fruit-trees  by  the 
road-side 2i 

in. 

WHAT  TO   PLANT. 

No  general  answer — Determined  by  the  special  object  in 
planting — Also  determined  by  locality — By  soil — Quick- 
growing  trees  or  slow — Influence  of  temperature — Na- 
tive trees  first — Plant  such  as  are  found  growing  near 
the  planter — Nature  a  sure  guide  to  choice — Experiment 
with  others  afterward — Our  country  rich  in  variety  of 


CONTENTS.  5 

PAGE 

trees — Species  exhibited  at  Philadelphia  Centennial  Ex- 
position— Species  indigenous  to  the  United  States — 
Trees  which  are  specially  deserving  the  attention  of 
the  planter — The  oak — White  pine — Ash — Linden  or 
bass-wood — Tulip-tree — Sycamore — Maples — Box-elder 
— Locust — Elm — Birches — Beech — Willows — Catalpa — 
Ailanthus — Hemlock — Spruces — Cedar — Scotch  pine — 
European  larch 48 

IV. 

HOW  TO  PLANT. 

Trees  are  living  organisms — This  often  little  regarded — Atten- 
tion first  to  place  where  tree  is  to  grow — Character  and 
condition  of  soil — Mouths  of  the  tree  in  its  roots — Its  food 
must  be  dissolved  in  order  to  be  taken — Soil  to  be  made 
fine — Proper  plant-food — Reasons  of  failure  in  planting — 
Haste  makes  waste — Working  not  for  a  single  season  but 
for  scores  of  years — Whether  to  plant  seeds  or  trees — 
When  to  gather  and  when  to  plant  seeds — How  to  keep 
seeds — Nature  our  best  teacher — Dr.  Warder's  directions 
— Soft  and  hard  seeds — Nuts — Coniferous  seeds — Cut- 
tings— Process  of  planting — Ideal  method — After-care 
necessary — Shelter  from  sun  and  wind — Mulching — Free- 
dom from  weeds — Trees  to  be  planted,  how  far  apart — 
Close  planting  best — Nature's  plan — Thinning — Injuries 
by  animals — Different  kinds  of  trees  planted  together — 
Grow  better  in  this  way — More  pleasing  appearance  also 
— Beauty  to  be  combined  with  utility  in  planting — How  to 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

arrange  shelter-belts  and  wind-breaks — Not  in  straight 
lines — Checker-board  plan  to  be  avoided — Nature  moves 
and  builds  in  curves — Planting  evergreens — Special  cau- 
tion in  regard  to  these — Conditions  of  success — Impera- 
tive rule 84 


USEFUL  TABLES. 

Number  of  trees  on  an  acre  planted  at  various  distances — 
Specific  gravity  and  fuel  value  of  the  most  important 
woods 125 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  special  object  of  this  book  is  to  treat  of 
the  planting  of  trees  in  masses.  It  is  not  de- 
signed so  much  for  the  amateur,  or  the  orna- 
mental planter,  as  for  the  one  who  is  desirous  of 
cultivating  trees  on  the  large  scale,  and  with  a 
view  to  profit  rather  than  to  adornment  or  mere 
aesthetic  effect.  It  aims  to  meet  the  want  of 
land-owners,  more  especially  of  those  whose  lot 
is  cast  in  portions  of  the  country  destitute  or 
nearly  so  of  trees,  and  who  feel  the  need  of 
them,  whether  for  fuel,  as  a  source  of  lumber, 
for  shelter,  or  for  companionship,  but  who  are 
inexperienced  in  the  cultivation  of  trees,  and  so 
far  ignorant  of  their  qualities  and  adaptations  to 
various  soils  and  climates,  that  they  are  at  a  loss 
what  to  plant,  or  as  to  the  best  method  to  be 
pursued  in  their  cultivation.  It  does  not,  there- 
fore, undertake  to  discuss  the  respective  merits 
of  the  wide  range  of  ornamental  trees,  properly 


8  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

SO  called,  or  even  to  go  over  the  catalogue  of 
trees  indigenous  to  this  country,  more  than  four 
hundred  in  number,  but  treats  only  of  a  limited 
class  and  such  as  have  a  recognized  economic 
value  that  commends  them  to  the  attention  of 
any  who  are  desirous  of  planting  for  use  and 
profit. 

But  while  this  is  the  author's  special  object, 
he  has  endeavored  to  treat  the  subject  in  such 
a  manner  as  will  make  the  work  a  proper  guide 
to  the  tree-planter,  whoever  he  may  be,  or  what- 
ever may  be  his  object  in  planting.  The  laws  of 
growth  and  the  conditions  of  success  in  planting 
are  essentially  the  same,  whether  one  plants  a 
forest  or  a  single  tree,  whether  he  plants  for  use 
or  for  ornament.  Economic  considerations  may 
lead  to  a  variation  of  treatment  in  some  re- 
spects. These  are  easily  specified,  but  the  gen- 
eral principles  which  govern  all  cases  alike  re- 
main the  same. 

It  has  seemed  to  the  author  that  he  might 
best  meet  the  demands  of  the  subject  by  casting 
what  he  has  to  say  in  the  form  of  answers  to  the 
specific  questions — Why  to  plant?  Where  to 
plant?    What  to  plant?    and  How  to  plant? 


I. 

WHY  TO   PLANT. 

Tree-PLANTING,  except  for  ornamental  pur- 
poses, as  in  door-yards,  along  the  borders  of 
streets,  and  occasionally  in  lawns  and  parks,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  by  orchardists,  has  hardly 
been  a  subject  of  consideration  in  this  country 
until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period  of 
time.  Planting  in  masses,  so  that  the  result 
should  take  on  a  forest  appearance,  has  been 
thought  of  only  in  rare  instances.  Our  thought 
and  corresponding  action  have  been  in  quite  the 
opposite  direction.  From  the  first  settlement  of 
the  country  we  have  been  engaged,  with  stout 
arms  and  resolute  will,  in  destroying  the  forests. 
At  the  outset  such  action  was  often  a  necessity. 
The  land  was  almost  entirely  forest-covered. 
Settlement  could  be  made  only  as  room  for  agri- 
culture and  pasturage  was  gained  by  removing 


lo  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

the  dense  masse?  of  trees,  whose  leafy  tops  shut 
out  the  sunhght  and  whose  roots  defied  the 
plow.  Accordingly,  they  were  made  away  with, 
and  in  the  speediest  manner  possible.  They 
were  felled  by  wholesale,  and  burned  by  the 
acre  upon  the  ground  where  they  lay.  Wood 
was  worthless,  except  for  the  scanty  needs  of 
fuel  and  house-building.  The  pioneer  could 
hardly  have  too  little  of  it.  The  forests  were  in 
the  way.  They  were  almost  a  nuisance  ;  and  a 
man  was  famous  in  proportion  as,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  *'he  had  lifted  up  the  axe 
among  the  thick  trees." 

The  feeling  engendered  in  that  early  time 
has  characterized  our  people  ever  since.  We 
have  continued  to  make  ruthless  warfare  upon 
the  woods.  The  trees  have  continued  to  be  in 
the  way  as  the  population  has  increased  and 
the  tide  of  migration  has  swept  westward  from 
the  Atlantic  coast.  Naturally  our  best  friends, 
we  have  come  to  regard  them  as  our  natural 
enemies.  The  forests,  the  slow  growth  of  cen- 
turies, have  been  held  as  an  impediment  to  the 
national  growth,  and  one  of  our  States  has 
even  taken  for  its  seal  and  heraldic  device  the 


WJ/y  TO  PLANT.  11 

figure  of  a  wood-chopper  with  his  axe  Kfted 
on  high  to  smite  the  trees.  It  might  be  taken 
as  the  characteristic  emblem  of  the  nation. 

At  length  we  have  hewed  our  path  through 
the  seemingly  interminable  forest  and  come 
out  upon  the  treeless  plains  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi. And  now,  as  the  naked  land  spreads 
out  for  hundreds  of  miles  on  every  side,  we 
are  awakening  to  the  discovery  that  the  trees 
have  a  positive  value.  As  the  settlers  on  the 
plains  of  Kansas  or  Dakota  feel  the  blasts  com- 
ing down  upon  them  from  the  Arctic  zone, 
the  "  blizzards  "  that  thrust  their  icy  darts  to 
the  very  vitals  of  man  and  beast,  the)'-  long 
for  the  trees  to  stand  between  them  and  the 
deadly  storm.  The  few  belts  of  them  that  are 
found  along  the  courses  of  the  streams  are 
like  protecting  ramparts  in  the  way  of  a  be- 
sieging foe.  Happy  those  who  are  near  enough 
to  take  advantage  of  them  !  Then,  too,  in  an 
economic  point  of  view,  for  fuel  and  for  lum- 
ber, to  be  used  for  construction  purposes,  how 
valuable  have  the  trees  become!  Moreover,  as 
the  demands  of  these  vast  and  rapidly  peopling 
prairies  draw  heavily  upon  the  forests  that  are 


12  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

yet  left  around  the  Great  Lakes,  we  are  making 
the  discovery  that,  having  already  swept  away 
the  forests  of  the  Eastern  States,  the  present 
draft  from  East  and  West  together  upon  these 
lake  forests  is  rapidly  extinguishing  them,  and 
with  them  our  last  resource  for  a  species  of 
lumber  which  serves,  as  no  other  does  or  can, 
for  the  thousand  purposes  of  domestic  and  in- 
dustrial life.  More  than  this.  As  we  look  back 
over  the  path  by  which  we  have  reached  our 
present  position,  and  see  what  we  have  done, 
and  notice  the  changes  which  have  taken  place 
in  our  condition,  we  are  discovering  also  that 
the  trees  have  an  intimate  connection  with  cli- 
mate, with  temperature  and  moisture,  with  the 
distribution  of  rainfall,  and  so  with  the  success 
of  our  agricultural  industry. 

We  are  finding  likewise  that  the  forests  are 
closely  connected  with  floods  and  droughts,  and 
so  have  a  direct  relation  not  only  to  agricult- 
ure, but  to  commerce  and  manufactures  as  well. 
And  so  the  despised  forests,  of  which  we  have 
thought,  the  sooner  out  of  the  way  the  better, 
now  that  they  are  so  nearly  out  of  the  way  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  are  coming  to  have 


WIfY   TO  PLANT.  13 

in  our  esteem  somewhat  the  position  of  im- 
portance which  belongs  to  them,  and  we  are 
beginning  to  ask,  when  almost  too  late.  How 
can  we  save  them,  or  how  can  we  replace  them 
where  they  have  been  destroyed  ? 

A  new  word,  forestry,  formerly  a  mere  dic- 
tionary word,  and  hardly  that  even,  has  come 
into  our  common  daily  speech.  An  association 
of  those  who  have  been  most  thoughtful  in 
regard  to  the  office  and  value  of  the  trees  has 
been  formed  under  the  name  of  a  "  Forestry 
Congress,"  and  "  Schools  of  Forestry"  and  "  For- 
estal  Experiment  Stations  "  are  under  considera- 
tion. 

These  things  indicate  a  change  of  sentiment 
in  respect  to  trees,  a  revulsion  of  feeling  in  re- 
gard to  them  and  our  treatment  of  them.  It 
has  come  none  too  soon.  We  were  on  the  way 
to  meet  great  loss  and  suffering  in  consequence 
of  the  manner  in  which  we  have  treated  our 
forests.  We  were  on  the  way  to  meet  the  evils 
which  have  befallen  many  of  the  European  na- 
tions as  the  result  of  the  destruction  of  their 
forests.     Happy   shall   we   be    if,   through   our 

greater  activity  and  readiness  to  apply  appro- 

2 


14  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

priate  remedies  for  evils  when  they  are  made 
known  to  us,  and  warned  in  part  by  the  experi- 
ence of  those  nations,  we  adopt  measures  which 
give  promise  of  relief  from  the  threatening  dan- 
ger, or  at  least  a  mitigation  of  the  evils  natu- 
rally consequent  upon  our  previous  conduct. 

History  shows  that  the  inhabited  world  has 
been  characteristically  a  tree-world — a  world 
peopled  by  trees  as  well  as  men,  and  science 
teaches  us  that  the  world  is  habitable  by  man 
only  as  man  and  the  trees  hold  it  by  joint  occu- 
pancy. The  trees  preceded  man  on  the  earth 
as  a  prerequisite  of  his  existence  here  and  a 
preparative  for  it.  It  was  their  office  to  elimi- 
nate from  the  atmosphere  of  the  early  world  the 
deleterious  gases  which  made  it  irrespirable  by 
man,  and  it  is  their  office  now  to  maintain  that 
balance  between  its  constituent  elements  upon 
which  man's  health  and  vigor  depend.  Chem- 
ists and  physiologists  show  us  that  plants 
are  continually  absorbing  carbonic-acid  gas  and 
pouring  out  oxygen,  or  vital  air  as  it  was  for- 
merly called,  because  it  was  regarded  as  having 
an  indispensable  connection  with  life. 

It  has  been  the  conclusion  of  scientific  inves- 


WHY  TO  PLANT.  15 

tigation  also  that  from  one  fourth  to  one  third 
of  the  earth's  surface  needs  to  be  appropriated 
to  tree  or  plant  life,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
best  conditions  of  human  existence.  Such  an 
amount  of  wooded  surface,  while  it  would  pre- 
serve the  atmosphere  in  the  best  state  for  man's 
use  as  a  living  creature,  would  also  secure  to 
him  the  amplest  returns  from  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil,  and  the  largest  rewards  of  his  varied 
industries.  In  proportion  as  this  balance  of 
natural  forces  is  preserved,  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures  all  flourish  best.  A 
due  measure  of  forest  not  only  maintains  the  at- 
mosphere in  the  best  condition  to  be  breathed 
by  man,  but  by  its  continual  growth,  if  that 
growth  is  wisely  husbanded  and  protected,  is 
able  to  supply  him  perpetually  with  fuel  and 
the  material  upon  which  the  larger  part  of  the 
arts  and  industries  of  life  depend. 

But  throughout  his  history  man  has  been 
found  a  disturber  rather  than  a  maintainer  of 
the  beneficial  arrangements  of  Nature  in  his  be- 
half. In  almost  all  parts  of  the  world  which  he 
has  inhabited,  man  has  swept  away  the  trees 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  destroy  the  balance  of 


1 6  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

forces  and  bring  ultimate  injury  upon  himself. 
In  many  cases  he  has  been  obliged  to  flee  from 
the  desolation  which  his  own  reckless  action  has 
produced.  He  has  often  changed  a  garden  into 
a  desert,  and  has  been  compelled  to  migrate  to 
new  regions  in  order  to  preserve  his  life.  And 
where  evil  has  not  come  upon  him  to  such  an 
insupportable  extent,  he  has  been  obliged  to 
maintain  his  life  under  less  pleasant  conditions, 
and  attended  with  burdens  and  hardships  which 
otherwise  might  have  been  avoided.  The  Old 
World  is  full  of  illustrations  of  this. 

We  have  been  pursuing  the  same  course. 
But  it  is  only  recently  that  we  have  begun  to 
see  and  feel  the  evils  which  are  threatening  us. 
Our  forest  wealth  was  so  great,  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  it  is  still  so  ample,  that  it  is  only 
within  a  few  years  that  our  attention  has  been 
drawn  to  the  connection  between  the  presence 
or  absence  of  trees  and  our  personal  and  nation- 
al welfare.  It  has  been  noticed  that  many  of 
our  streams  have  been  gradually  diminishing  in 
volume.  It  has  been  noticed  also  that  their 
flow  has  become  less  uniform,  that  floods  have 
become  more  frequent,  and  that  as  these  have 


IVJ/y   TO  PLANT.  17 

increased,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  the  streams 
have  often  shrunk  away  to  mere  threads,  so  that 
they  could  not  be  depended  upon  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  for  the  supply  of  mills,  or 
for  the  purposes  of  husbandry  or  navigation. 
But  we  have  failed  until  now  to  trace  these 
effects  to  their  simple  and  sufficient  cause,  the 
removal  of  the  trees. 

The  connection  is  easily  shown.  Every  one 
acquainted  with  the  forests  knows  that  the 
leaves,  falling  from  year  to  year  and  gradually 
decaying,  form  a  soil  quite  different  in  texture 
from  that  in  the  open  ground.  It  is  loose  and 
spongy,  and  often  of  great  depth.  In  the  Adi- 
rondack woods  the  "spruce-duff,"  as  it  is  called, 
is  often  four  feet  deep.  The  rain  which  falls 
upon  this  soil  does  not  flow  off  immediately,  as 
does  that  falling  on  a  hill-side  bare  of  trees,  but 
is  absorbed  by  it,  as  water  is  absorbed  and  held 
by  a  sponge,  and  oozes  out  gradually,  flowing 
down  the  slope  with  a  steady  stream  or  sink- 
ing slowly  into  the  deeper  earth  to  reappear 
in  neighboring  or  more  distant  springs.  So, 
again,  where  forests  crown  the  hill-sides  in  the 
cooler  latitudes,  the  snow  which  falls  is  screened 


1 8  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

from  the  action  of  the  sun  and  dissolves  slowly, 
remaining  to  a  considerable  extent  long  after 
the  snow  has  disappeared  from  the  open  fields. 
Thus  a  protracted  and  steady  flow  into  the 
brooks  and  streams  is  secured. 

But  when  the  forests  along  the  heads  and 
courses  of  streams  are  cut  off,  the  first  effect  is 
to  dry  up  the  spongy  soil,  and  then  to  remove  it 
by  the  combined  influence  of  the  sun,  wind,  and 
rain.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  water  result- 
ing from  rain  or  the  dissolving  snow  flows  down 
the  hill-sides  at  once,  and  often  causes  the 
streams  to  become  torrents,  overflowing  their 
banks  and  carr3^ing  disaster  and  destruction  far 
and  wide. 

For  the  same  reason,  when  summer  comes, 
with  its  lessened  supply  of  rain  and  more  rapid 
evaporation,  there  is  no  reservoir  upon  the  hills 
as  formerly  to  send  its  steady  flow  along  the 
water-courses,  and  so  the  streams  shrink  to 
brooks,  and  the  brooks  to  mere  threads  perhaps. 
The  mill-wheels  stop,  or  must  be  turned  by  the 
power  of  steam.  The  boats  of  commerce  can 
not  move  in  their  accustomed  channels,  or  are 
delayed ;  and  so  the  many  industries  of  life  are 


PVBV   TO  PLANT.  19 

disturbed,  the  course  of   trade   is   disarranged, 
and  great  inconvenience  and  loss  result. 

Now,  this  is  the  condition  of  things  at  which 
we  have  arrived.  These  evils  already  beset  us, 
or  are  threatening  us,  in  a  large  part  of  our 
country.  And  thus  we  have  the  answer  to  our 
first  question,  W/iy  to  plant  ?  It  is,  comprehen- 
sively, that  we  may,  if  possible,  restore  the  lost 
balance  of  the  forces  of  Nature,  and  thus  regain 
the  former  conditions  of  life,  or  at  least  mitigate 
the  evils  which  have  already  come  upon  us,  and 
lessen,  if  we  can  not  check,  the  greater  evils 
which  threaten  us.  The  question  is  one  that 
concerns  not  certain  individuals  alone,  but  is  of 
national  scope  and  interest.  Whatever  special 
answer  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  any  one 
may  move  him  to  give  to  the  question,  our  com- 
mon interests  as  a  people  and  our  common  needs 
suggest  a  ready  and  pertinent  answer  to  the 
question  for  every  intelligent  person  among  us. 
The  dweller  upon  the  treeless  plains  of  Dakota, 
or  the  valleys  of  California,  may  be  moved  to 
plant  by  different  considerations  from  those 
which  urge  the  resident  in  Ohio  or  Vermont; 
but,  dwell  where  we  may  within  the  boundaries 


20  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

of  our  great  country,  we  are  all  interested  in  the 
maintenance  of  an  ample  supply  of  trees.  We 
are  all  interested  in  the  preservation  of  them  to 
a  proper  extent  where  the}'^  now  exist,  and  in  es- 
tablishing them  in  due  measure,  by  planting,  in 
those  parts  of  the  country  from  which  they  have 
been  removed,  or  where  hitherto  their  growth 
has  been  prevented. 


II. 


WHERE   TO   PLANT. 


If  the  condition  of  things  is  as  we  have  set 
it  forth,  the  answer  to  this  question  is  readily 
suggested. 

The  urgency  of  the  case  on  the  exposed 
plains  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  in  the  arid  dis- 
tricts between  that  river  and  the  Coast-Ranges 
of  the  Pacific,  will  draw  our  attention  to  those 
parts  of  the  country  first  and  lead  us  to  say  at 
once,  plant  there  if  possible.  How  far  it  is  pos- 
sible to  make  tree-planting  successful  in  those 
regions  is  a  matter  of  dispute.  Into  the  grounds 
of  that  dispute  we  do  not  propose  here  to  enter. 
In  a  simple,  practical  manual,  such  as  this  is  de- 
signed to  be,  it  is  not  called  for.  But  the  urgen- 
cies of  the  case  are  such  that  no  reasonable  ef- 
fort should  be  spared  in  the  endeavor  to  supply 
those  naked  regions  with  an  adequate  amount  of 


22  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

trees.  People  ought  not  to  be  invited  to  live, 
they  ought  not  to  try  to  live,  in  such  a  region  as 
Northern  Dakota  or  Minnesota,  unless  they  have 
the  hope  of  a  speedy  change  of  their  condition, 
to  be  supplied  by  the  presence  of  trees.  A  high 
civilization  would  be  impossible  there  without 
the  aid  of  trees.  Barbarism  would  not  only  be 
"  the  first  danger "  but  the  inevitable  result. 
Wheat-fields  are  not  enough,  even  if  droughts 
and  floods  could  be  insured  against.  "  Man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone."  Years  ago,  a 
professor  in  one  of  the  colleges  of  that  region 
said  publicly  that  it  was  simple  cruelty  to  invite 
people  to  settle  there  until  measures  were  taken 
to  plant  trees  so  as  to  make  an  effectual  safe- 
guard against  the  terrible  blizzards  which  sweep 
down  from  the  icy  North  with  such  blinding 
and  destructive  power.  Tree-planting  is  almost 
a  first  necessity  of  life  there.  The  man  who  set- 
tles there  should  understand  that  he  is  to  be  en- 
gaged in  a  battle  with  the  icy  bayonetry  of  the 
North,  and  he  needs  at  once  to  raise  his  breast- 
work of  trees  and  fight  behind  their  cover.  An 
outlay  for  these  is  as  needful  as  an  outlay  for 
agricultural  implements.     With  the  first  turning 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  23 

of  the  sod  in  preparation  for  wheat-sowing, 
there  should  be  some  turning  of  the  sod  for 
tree-planting.  The  two  should  go  together.  It 
is  important  on  all  accounts.  The  wheat-fields 
themselves  will  be  the  more  productive  for  the 
sheltering  and  salutary  influences  of  the  trees. 
Trees  are  equalizers  of  temperature  and 
moisture,  and  tend  greatly  to  secure  uniform 
returns  to  the  labor  of  the  husbandman.  This 
is  now  getting  to  be  well  understood,  and 
many  are  planting  trees  liberally  and  with  the 
most  satisfactory  results.  Nature  has  provided 
quick-growing  trees,  which,  on  the  rich  soil  of 
the  prairies,  soon  spring  up  into  groves  that  re- 
lieve the  nakedness  of  the  landscape,  while  they 
bring  abundant  comfort  to  the  dwellers  there 
by  their  grateful  shade  and  shelter,  and  their 
supply  of  fuel  and  timber.  In  the  older  prairie 
States  a  very  manifest  change  has  already  been 
wrought.  It  has  been  found  that  those  States 
were  bare  of  trees,  not  because  there  was  any- 
thing in  the  soil  or  climate  which  forbade  their 
growth,  but  from  other  though  perhaps  un- 
known causes.  Evidences  of  former  tree-growth 
have  been  met  with.     Remains  of  ancient  trees 


24  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

have  been  discovered  on  turning  up  the  soil. 
Once  stripped  of  their  tree-covering,  by  what- 
ever cause,  the  annual  and  unimpeded  fires 
which  have  swept  over  those  plains  were 
sufficient  to  prevent  any  subsequent  growth. 
But  since  settlers  have  come  in  and  checked  the 
course  of  the  fires  by  their  barriers  of  plowed 
fields,  and  by  their  watchful  care,  it  has  been 
found  that  trees  will  grow  wherever  they  are 
given  a  chance  to  grow.  They  have  been  suc- 
cessfully planted  far  beyond  what  many  have 
assigned  as  the  natural  limit  of  tree  life.  The 
growth  of  trees,  as  of  all  plants,  is  dependent 
upon  a  due  supply  of  moisture.  As  we  go 
westward  from  the  Mississippi,  there  are  natural 
causes  which  diminish  the  amount  of  rainfall  in 
proportion  as  we  approach  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains, and  it  has  been  held  that  from  about  the 
one-hundredth  parallel  of  longitude  the  amount 
of  rain  is  so  small  that  trees  could  not  be  made 
to  grow,  except  sparsely  just  along  the  margin 
of  streams,  unless  by  the  artificial  aid  of  irriga- 
tion. But,  happily,  experience  has  proved  that 
the  field  of  tree-growth  reaches  farther  west 
than  many  have  been  willing  to  allow.    In  West- 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  25 

ern  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  there  are  now  grow- 
ing large  groves  of  trees  which  the  settlers 
have  planted,  and,  as  the  latter  have  taken 
pains  also  to  check  the  prairie-fires,  the  lines 
of  native  trees  along  the  water-courses  have 
begun  to  spread,  so  that  it  is  estimated  that 
the  area  of  spontaneous  tree-growth  is  half  as 
great  as  that  resulting  from  planting  by  the 
settlers. 

There  is  reason  to  think  we  have  taken  too 
despondent  a  view  of  the  practicability  of  grow- 
ing trees  on  the  remote  plains  of  the  West. 
While  their  growth  is  dependent  upon  moisture, 
and  can  not  be  established  or  maintained  with- 
out it,  the  trees  are  equalizers  and  husbanders  of 
moisture.  When  planted  in  masses,  they  shade 
the  ground  and  prevent  evaporation  from  the 
soil  from  being  as  copious  and  rapid  as  it  would 
be  under  the  undiminished  influence  of  the  sun 
and  winds.  There  is  hope,  therefore,  that  we 
may  be  able  gradually  to  push  the  tree-line 
much  farther  west  than  we  have  formerly  sup- 
posed was  possible,  and  that,  with  the  help  of 
irrigation  in  the  most  arid  regions,  we  may  re- 
claim for  human  uses  and  comfort  a  large  part 


26  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

of  our  country  which  has  been  regarded  as  a 
hopelessly  barren  waste. 

There  is  no  need  of  urging  the  necessity 
of  tree-planting  in  all  that  region.  Every  set- 
tler there,  every  traveler  even  who  passes  over 
it,  must  feel  the  desirableness  of  establishing  a 
tree-growth  there  as  soon  as  possible. 

But  while  the  need  of  planting  trees  seems 
most  urgent  on  the  naked  and  exposed  plains 
of  the  West,  the  need  in  other  places  is  un- 
questionable. On  most  of  the  hill-sides  and 
mountain-slopes  of  the  North  and  East  or  of 
the  Pacific  States  from  which  the  original  for- 
est-growth has  been  removed,  an  effort  should 
be  made  to  restore  it.  There  are  found  the 
sources  of  the  streams,  important  to  us  on  so 
many  accounts,  and  the  lessened  flow  of  which 
has  been  deplored,  while  hitherto  we  have 
not  known  how  the  evil  might  be  remedied. 
The  higher  and  steeper  hill-sides  are  of  little 
value  for  agricultural  purposes  because  they 
are  so  difficult  of  access.  Often  they  are  so 
rocky  that  they  are  intractable,  while  the  soil 
is  so  thin  and  so  liable  to  be  washed  away 
by  the   rains,  that  they  offer  little   promise   of 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  27 

reward  to  the  cultivator.  Such  lands  are  the 
appropriate  home  of  the  trees.  Once  planted 
there,  and  protected  from  the  invasion  of  fire 
and  the  incursion  of  cattle,  they  will  grow  and 
produce  an  ample  harvest  with  little  further 
care  or  labor  on  the  part  of  their  owner.  In 
a  pecuniary  point  of  view  these  rocky  and  often 
precipitous  hill-sides  can  be  made  so  valuable 
in  no  other  way  as  by  giving  them  up  to  the 
growth  of  trees.  One  crop  of  this  kind,  requir- 
ing almost  no  care,  will  ordinarily  sell  for  more 
than  the  combined  crops  of  grain  or  roots  that 
could  be  raised  upon  the  same  ground  during 
all  the  years  that  the  trees  would  require  to 
bring  them  to  maturity.  With  the  increase  of 
our  population,  and  the  consequently  increasing 
demand  for  wood  for  use  in  the  arts  and  manu- 
factures all  the  while  extending,  for  building 
purposes  and  for  fuel,  the  value  of  forest  prop- 
erty can  not  but  greatly  increase. 

There  is  ample  reason,  therefore,  for  endeav- 
oring to  reclothe  with  trees  the  hill-sides  from 
which  the  forests  have  been  taken.  In  some 
cases  the  reason  for  planting  is  as  imperative 
almost  as  it   is  on  the  exposed   plains  of   Da- 


28  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

kota.  On  the  slopes  of  California  and  Neva. 
da,  for  example,  the  removal  of  the  trees,  which 
has  taken  place  with  such  rapidity,  is  threat 
ening  great  disaster  to  those  portions  of  the 
country.  Fires  have  been  allowed  to  ravage 
the  forests  with  hardly  any  effort  to  prevent 
or  to  check  them.  And,  as  though  this  were 
not  enough,  the  3^oung  growth  that  springs  up 
is  destroyed  by  the  flocks  of  sheep  which  are 
turned  loose  in  it  for  pasture;  and  even  the 
mature  forest  is  often  fired  and  consumed  in 
order  that  grass  may  take  its  place  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  sheep  which  can  not  find  adequate 
pasturage  in  the  dry  valleys  and  plains  below. 
This  very  destruction  of  the  woods,  by  lessen- 
ing and  making  more  irregular  the  flow  of  the 
streams,  renders  the  irrigation  of  the  dry  plains 
below  less  practicable,  and  without  irrigation 
they  are  nearly  if  not  quite  worthless  for  all 
agricultural  purposes.  Sparsely  wooded  at  the 
best,  and  needing  every  encouragement  to  make 
good  the  deficiency  of  trees  if  possible,  Cali- 
fornia has  lost  one  fourth  of  her  forests  during 
the  brief  period  since  she  became  one  of  the 
States  of  our  Union.     If  there  is  any  one  duty 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  29 

pressing  upon  that  State  and  upon  some  of  the 
neighboring  States,  in  view  of  their  future 
needs,  in  view  of  their  future  safety  one  may 
say,  it  is  to  take  the  speediest  and  the  most 
effective  measures  to  preserve  what  forests 
they  have  from  destruction,  and  to  encourage 
the  planting  of  trees  on  the  denuded  hills  and 
in  the  lower  plains  wherever  they  can  be  made 
to  grow.  Sheep  are  not  comparable  to  the 
forests  in  value.  If  those  Pacific  States  lose 
their  forests,  they  will  no  longer  be  desirable, 
hardly  possible,  habitations  for  men ;  and  how 
much  better  is  a  man  than  a  sheep ! 

But,  besides  the  hill-sides  and  mountain- 
slopes,  which  are  the  proper  homes  of  the  trees, 
and  where  the  forests,  if  allowed  to  grow,  are 
sources  of  manifold  blessings  to  the  country, 
protectors  of  its  health  and  its  most  precious  in- 
dustries, there  are  other  places  which  invite  the 
tree-planter's  attention.  On  the  lowlands  there 
are  many  stony,  sour,  sandy,  or  otherwise  ster- 
ile tracts,  of  more  or  less  extent,  which  are 
properly  called  waste-land.  They  are  of  little 
value  in  an  agricultural  point  of  view,  but,  if 
covered  with  trees,  would  not  only  have  an  ap- 


30  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

preciable  worth  in  themselves,  but  would  be  the 
source  of  great  benefit  to  the  country  at  large. 
Many,  if  not  most  of  these  tracts,  were  formerly 
covered  with  forest  -  trees,  and  only  require  to 
have  cattle  excluded  from  them  for  a  few  years, 
when  a  new  growth  of  trees  would  be  found  to 
spring  up.  Cape  Cod,  now  to  so  large  extent  a 
barren  mass  of  sand,  we  have  the  best  authority 
for  believing,  was,  at  the  beginning  of  our  his- 
tory, a  densely  -  wooded  region.  Other  sand- 
barrens,  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  either  have 
the  stumps  of  trees  remaining  upon  them,  or 
were  clothed  with  trees  within  the  memory  of 
those  dwelling  near  them.  These  now  worth- 
less lands  can  be  made  to  rank  with  the  most 
valuable,  if  devoted  to  the  growth  of  trees. 

Happily,  this  is  not  a  matter  of  mere  theory 
or  opinion.  The  experiment  has  been  tried,  and 
with  abundant  success.  Hundreds  of  acres  on 
Cape  Cod  have  been  planted,  and  trees  thus 
planted  have  now  attained  a  height  of  forty  and 
fifty  feet.  The  people  of  that  region  sow  the 
pine-cones  upon  their  sandy  fields  with  as  much 
confidence  that  a  crop  of  trees  will  spring  from 
them  as  the  man  who  plants  corn  on  the  prairie 


WHERE   TO  PLANT.  31 

of  the  West  has  that  his  seed  will  produce  a 
harvest.  On  the  western  coast  of  France  vast 
districts  of  barren  sand  have  been  reclaimed  by 
planting,  and  where  formerly  was  an  uninhab- 
ited desert  are  now  populous  villages ;  while 
from  the  pines  by  which  the  wastes  were  re- 
claimed a  large  revenue  is  annually  derived 
through  the  manufacture  of  turpentine,  as  well 
as  by  the  sale  of  trees  for  timber  and  fuel. 

The  pines  will  flourish  on  poor  and  sandy 
soils,  though  they  do  not  refuse  to  grow  on  such 
as  are  fertile.  And  we  have  no  wood  at  pres- 
ent more  valuable  than  the  pine,  or  one  which 
for  years  to  come  will  have  a  greater  market- 
able worth.  The  white  pine,  especially,  enters 
into  more  uses  of  ordinary  life  than  any  other 
wood.  Formerly  it  was  so  abundant  in  our 
Northern  States,  from  the  St.  John  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, that  we  hardly  noted  its  peculiar  and 
surpassing  value.  The  supply  was  at  hand,  and 
seemed  inexhaustible.  So  we  cut  and  consumed 
unsparingly,  recklessly  even.  We  consumed 
not  only  to  meet  our  own  wants,  but  for  the 
wants  of  the  world. 

But  at  length  we  have  found  a  limit  to  the 


32  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

supply  of  this  valuable  wood,  and  with  that  dis- 
covery its  market  price  has  greatly  increased, 
and  will  inevitably  increase  yet  more.  The  man 
who  has  a  growing  forest  of  white  pine  has  a 
mine  of  wealth  surer  than  the  ores  of  the  West- 
ern mountains,  and  the  man  who  now  plants  this 
tree  on  his  useless  fields  of  sand  or  on  some 
rocky  hill-side,  called  perhaps  a  pasture,  but 
where  the  stones  will  hardly  allow  the  cattle  to 
get  their  teeth  to  the  grass,  if  he  does  not  live 
to  reap  the  sure  harvest,  will  leave  to  his  heirs 
a  legacy  as  valuable  as  stocks  or  bonds. 

It  would  seem  that  this  needs  no  arguing. 
But,  to  show  that  practical  experience  bears 
out  all  that  we  have  said,  we  will  adduce 
some  testimony  from  actual  tree-planters.  Tree- 
planting  in  masses,  designed  to  produce  forests, 
has  hardly  been  undertaken  in  our  country 
until  quite  recently.  Among  the  earliest  to 
engage  in  this  work  were  the  Messrs.  Fay,  in 
Essex  and  Barnstable  Counties,  Massachusetts. 
They  have  been  followed  by  several  persons 
on  Cape  Cod.  Mr.  R.  S.  Fay  began  a  planta- 
tion on  his  estate,  near  Lynn,  in  1846.  In  that 
and  the  two  following  years  he  planted  two 


WHERE   TO  PLANT.  ^^ 

hundred  thousand  trees  which  he  had  import- 
ed, and  subsequently  as  many  more  raised  by 
him  from  the  seed.  These  trees  occupied  about 
two  hundred  acres.  The  land  which  he  plant- 
ed was  of  poor  soil,  stony,  exposed  to  the  wind, 
in  short,  good  for  nothing  else,  but  in  this  re- 
spect like  not  a  little  of  the  land  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  country,  especially  in  New  Eng- 
land. A  variety  of  trees  was  planted,  such  as 
oaks,  ashes,  maples,  the  Norway  spruce,  the 
Scotch  and  the  Austrian  pine,  but  principally 
the  European  larch.  Twenty-nine  years  after 
the  trees  were  planted,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  Prof.  Sargent,  of  Harvard  University, 
who  made  a  personal  inspection  of  the  planta- 
tion, some  of  the  larches  were  more  than  fifty 
feet  in  height  and  were  fifteen  inches  in  diam- 
eter, three  feet  from  the  ground.  Other  kinds 
of  trees  had  grown  to  a  height  of  forty  feet. 
During  the  ten  years  immediately  preceding 
his  visit,  seven  hundred  cords  of  fire-wood  had 
been  taken  from  the  plantation,  besides  all  the 
fencing  required  for  the  large  estate,  and  Prof. 
Sargent  says  that,  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  fire- 
wood, fence-posts,  and  railroad-sleepers,  to  the 


34  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

value  of  thousands  of  dollars,  could  have  been 
cut  to  the  manifest  advantage  of  the  remaining 
trees.  Can  any  one  doubt  that  Mr.  Fay's  stony, 
sterile  acres  were  put  to  a  profitable  use  ? 

A  somewhat  similar  experiment  was  made 
by  a  brother,  Mr.  J.  S.  Fay,  on  the  southwest- 
ern portion  of  Cape  Cod,  on  a  tract  of  land 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  in 
extent.  It  is  now  densely  wooded,  but  when 
planted  was  as  forbidding,  perhaps,  as  any 
land  to  be  found.  It  was  fully  exposed  to  the 
cold  northwest  winds  in  winter,  and  to  the 
fierce  gales  of  the  Atlantic  and  their  saline 
moisture,  so  hurtful  often  to  tree-growth.  As 
to  the  character  of  the  land,  Mr.  Fay  says: 
"  My  land  is  made  up  mainly  of  abrupt  hills 
and  deep  hollows,  sprinkled  over  with  bowl- 
ders of  granite.  The  soil  is  dry  and  worn  out, 
and  what  there  is  of  it  is  a  gravelly  loam. 
The  larger  part  consisted  of  old  pastures,  and 
on  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  not 
a  tree  of  any  kind,  unless  an  oak,  that  sprang 
out  of  the  huckleberry-bushes  here  and  there, 
barely  lifting  its  head  above  them  for  the  wind, 
and,  when  attempting  to  grow,  browsed  down 


WHERE   TO  PLANT.  35 

by  the  cattle  ranging  in  winter,  could  be  called 
a  tree.  .  .  . 

"  Thirty -five  thousand  trees  were  imported 
and  set  out,  besides  a  large  number  of  native 
trees  procured  in  this  country;  but  fully  three 
fourths  of  the  whole  plantation  was  made  by 
sowing  the  seed  directly  on  the  ground  where 
the  trees  were  to  stand.  A  large  variety  of 
trees,  both  native  and  foreign,  were  employed, 
and  while  few  have  failed  entirely,  the  foreign 
species,  as  was  to  be  expected  from  the  situa- 
tion, have  been  the  most  successful.  Larch  and 
Scotch  pines,  transplanted  from  the  nursery  in 
1853,  are  now  (1875)  forty  feet  high,  and  from 
ten  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter  at  one  foot  from 
the  ground.  Trees  of  the  Scotch  pine,  raised 
from  seed  planted  in  1861,  where  the  trees  have 
grown,  but  in  favorable  situations,  and  which 
have  been  properly  thinned,  have  been  cut  this 
winter,  and  measured  thirty  feet  in  height  and 
ten  inches  in  diameter  one  foot  from  the  ground, 
while  the  average  of  the  trees  in  a  large  planta- 
tion of  Scotch  pine,  made  in  the  same  manner  in 
1862,  and  which  has  received  no  special  care,  is 
twenty  feet  high  and  six  inches  in  diameter." 


3^  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

Instances  of  a  much  more  rapid  growth,  on 
the  rich  soils  of  the  West,  might  be  adduced, 
though  not  reaching  over  so  long  a  period  of 
time.  But  we  have  chosen  to  take  illustrations 
such  as  the  above,  as  showing  not  only  a  tree- 
growth  satisfactory  in  itself,  but  the  additional 
fact  that  land,  poor  and  otherwise  unremuner- 
ative,  may  thus  be  put  to  profitable  use.  Fur- 
ther, it  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
that  a  plantation  of  trees  is  not  only  profitable 
in  itself,  but  that,  if  rightly  disposed,  it  makes 
adjacent  lands  more  valuable.  In  regard  to 
many  if  not  most  farms  in  our  country,  it  may 
be  said  with  confidence  that  if  from  a  tenth 
to  a  sixth  part  of  their  area,  on  the  sides  most 
exposed  to  winds,  were  devoted  to  a  growth 
of  wood,  the  protection  thus  afforded  to  the 
growing  crops  would  increase  their  yield  by  a 
large  amount. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  also,  when  consider- 
ing the  economic  aspects  of  forestry,  that  trees 
are  not  an  exhausting  crop,  but  on  the  contra- 
ry, by  the  accumulation  and  decay  of  their 
leaves,  falling  from  year  to  year,  they  serve 
to  enrich  the  ground  where   the}'^   grow.     On 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  37 

this  account  a  barren,  sandy,  and  practically 
worthless  soil  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  til- 
lage may  be  so  reclaimed  by  the  growth  of 
trees  as  to  be  fitted  to  produce  other  crops 
when  the  trees  are  cut  off,  or,  if  retained  as 
woodland,  to  give  a  more  rapid  and  vigorous 
growth  of  trees  than  before.  The  effect  of  the 
larch  in  enriching  the  ground  is  quite  remark- 
able. A  writer  in  the  Scotch  Highland  Soci- 
ety's "  Transactions "  cites  the  case  where  the 
pasturage  under  a  plantation  of  larches  thirty 
years  old,  and  which  had  been  thinned  to  four 
hundred  trees  to  the  acre,  produced  an  annual 
rental  of  eight  or  ten  shillings  the  acre,  while 
the  same  land,  previous  to  the  introduction  of 
the  larch,  was  let  for  one  shilling  the  acre. 
Grigor,  an  eminent  English  authority,  says : 
"  No  tree  is  so  valuable  as  the  larch  in  its  fer- 
tilizing effects,  arising  from  the  richness  of  the 
foliage  which  it  sheds  annually.  In  a  healthy 
wood  the  yearly  deposit  is  very  great ;  the 
leaves  remain  and  are  consumed  on  the  spot 
where  they  drop,  and,  where  the  influence  of 
the  air  is  admitted,  the  space  becomes  clothed 
in  a  vivid  green  with  many  of  the  finest  kinds 


38  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

of  natural  grasses,  the  pasture  of  which  is  high- 
ly reputed  in  dairy  management." 

Prof.  Sargent  has  endeavored,  from  the  ex- 
amination of  Mr.  Fay's  plantation,  to  make  a 
practical  estimate  of  the  profit  of  tree-planting. 
He  says :  "  I  think  we  can  feel  confident  that  on 
the  ordinary  soil  suited  to  their  culture,  larch, 
planted  when  about  one  foot  high  and  three 
years  old,  will  in  twenty  years  average  twenty- 
two  feet  in  height  and  seven  inches  in  diameter, 
three  feet  from  the  ground ;  and  that  in  thirty 
years  they  will  be  from  thirty-five  to  forty  feet 
high  and  twelve  inches  in  diameter ;  and  if  the 
plantations  are  thinned  to  four  hundred  trees 
to  the  acre,  that  at  the  end  of  twenty  years 
more,  or  fifty  years  from  the  time  of  planting, 
the  trees  will  reach  from  sixty  to  seventy  feet  in 
height  and  at  least  twenty  inches  in  diameter. 
This  is  also  the  average  growth  of  this  tree  in 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  under  nearly  similar 
conditions. 

"  Let  us  consider  what  profits  a  plantation  of 
larch,  ten  acres  in  extent,  and  intended  to  stand 
for  fifty  years,  would  give.  The  labor  of  cut- 
ting the  trees  will  be  more  than  paid  for  by  the 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  39 

sale  at  different  periods  of  a  large  amount  of 
small  wood  suited  to  many  rustic  purposes,  but 
for  which  no  credit  is  made.  It  must  also  be  re- 
marked that  the  following  account  is  charged 
with  a  permanent  wire  -  fence,  although  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  any  land  suited  to  this 
purpose^  is  already  surrounded  by  stone  walls, 
which  would  require  but  little  subsequent  care. 
Present  prices  for  forest  products  are  taken, 
without  allowance  being  made  for  their  proba- 
ble future  increase  in  value. 

Estimated  Profits  of  a  Plantation  of  European 
Larch  of  Ten  Acres,  to  last  Fifty  Years. 

Dr. 

Ten  acres  of  land,  at  $20 $200  00 

Wire  fence 1,000  00 

Plants,  27,250,  at  $5  per  1,000 136  25 

Labor  of  planting 500  00 

$1,836  25 
Interest  on  investment  as  above,  50  years,  at  6 

per  cent 5.499  00 

Taxes,  50  years,  at  1.5  per  cent 1 50  00 

Interest  on  taxes  equal  25  years,  at  6  per  cent..        225  00 

$7,710  25 


40  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

Cr. 

Product  of  first  cutting,  at  the  end  of 
20  years :  13,000  trees,  less  20  per 
cent  for  casualties  =  10,400  trees,  or 
20,800  fence-posts,  at  20  cents $4,160  00 

Product  of  second  cutting,  at  the  end 
of  30  years :  10,200  trees,  less  10 
per  cent  for  casualties  =  9,180  trees, 
or  18,300  sleepers,  at  50  cents, $9,180  00 

And  9,180  fence-posts,  at  25  cents....    2,295  00 

$11475  00 

Product  of  third  cutting,  at  the  end  of 
50  years  :  4,000  trees,  less  5  per  cent 
for  casualties  =  3,800  piles,  worth  $5 
each $19,000  00 

And  7,600  sleepers,  worth  50  cents . . .    3,800  00 

$22,800  00 

Land  at  cost 200  00 

$38,635  00 
Thirty  years'  interest  on  $4,600  at  6  per 

cent $7,488  00 

Twenty  years'  interest  on  $11,475,  at  6 

per  cent 1 3,770  00 

• $21,258  00 

$59,993  00 
Profit $52,282  75 


WHERE   TO  PLANT.  41 

**  Equal  to  about  thirteen  per  cent  per  annum 
for  the  entire  fifty  years,  after  returning  the 
original  capital  invested. 

"  There  is  no  branch  of  agriculture  at  once 
so  pleasant  and  so  productive  of  possible  gains 
as  farming  on  paper.  It  is  a  dangerous  pastime, 
however,  and  often  leads  into  grave  errors  and 
great  dangers,  as  the  agricultural  population 
has  learned  to  its  cost.  In  this  case  it  will  be 
well  to  be  on  the  safe  side.  The  larch,  in  com- 
mon with  other  plants,  is  liable  to  disease  ;  it  is 
preyed  upon  by  many  insects,  and  our  planta- 
tions may  be  often  injured  by  fire,  bad  manage- 
ment, and  other  dangers  now  unforeseen. 

"  In  view  of  such  chances,  let  us  reduce  the 
total  yield  of  our  ten  acres  of  larch  a  little  more 
than  one  half,  and  be  content  with  a  profit  of 
only  six  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  capital  in- 
vested." 

Such  a  diminution  would  leave  us,  in  round 
numbers,  $24,000,  as  the  profit  of  the  ten  acres. 

Many  estimates  of  the  returns  of  tree-plant- 
ing, made  by  those  living  on  the  fertile  soils 
of  the  West,  promise  a  much  larger  profit  than 
that  supposed  by  Prof.  Sargent.     But  whatever 


42  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

deductions  any  may  be  disposed  to  make  from 
one  estimate  or  another,  it  admits  of  no  question 
but  that  a  fair  and  satisfactory  remuneration 
awaits  the  tree-planter  who  engages  in  planting 
with  reasonable  skill  and  proper  attention  to  the 
business. 

In  answering  the  question  "  Where  to  plant? " 
the  railroads  ought  not  to  be  passed  by.  They 
are  great  consumers  of  forests,  both  for  fuel  and 
for  their  very  construction,  and  although  the 
increased  price  of  wood,  arising  from  the  dimi- 
nution of  the  forests,  has  led  to  the  increased 
use  of  coal  for  fuel  in  place  of  wood,  the  de- 
mand upon  the  forests  for  railway-ties  is  enor- 
mous and  all  the  while  increasing.  We  have 
now  at  the  lowest  calculation,  including  second 
tracks  and  sidings,  150,000  miles  of  railroad 
track.  Every  mile  has  required  from  2,200  to 
3,000  ties.  It  will  not  be  in  excess  of  the  truth 
if  we  make  the  average  demand  2,640.  We  have 
then  396,000,000  used  in  the  construction  of  our 
railroads.  But  railroad-builders  choose  for  their 
use  young  and  vigorous  trees,  trees  that  have  not 
half  reached  their  maturity,  and  are  only  large 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  43 

enough  to  make  one  tie  to  a  cut  and  only  two 
or  at  the  most  three  cuts  to  a  tree.  Two  will 
probably  be  the  average.  The  building  of  our 
railroads,  therefore,  has  consumed  198,000,000 
trees,  and  those  cut  off  when,  if  left  a  few  years 
longer,  they  would  have  made  a  more  rapid 
increase  in  bulk  than  they  had  done  in  their 
younger  life.  It  is  a  generous  estimate  that 
allows  fifty  such  trees  to  be  found  on  an  acre 
of  woodland.  We  have,  then,  3,960,000  acres 
of  forest  stripped  of  their  most  valuable  trees  in 
the  construction  of  our  existing  railroads. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Railroad-ties  last,  on  an 
average,  seven  years.  To  keep  up  the  equip- 
ment of  our  roads,  therefore,  requires  every 
year  56,571,428  ties,  in  addition  to  what  are  de- 
manded for  the  construction  of  new  roads,  or 
the  product  of  565,714  acres.  So  that  if  the 
railroads  would  keep  themselves  good,  as  it  re- 
quires thirty  years  to  grow  trees  large  enough 
to  make  ties,  they  need  16,971,420  acres  devoted 
to  their  growth,  or  11 3.3  for  every  mile  of  their 
length.  It  may  well  be  considered,  therefore, 
whether  the  railroad  companies  should  not  be- 
come forest-planters  as  a  matter  of  self-interest. 


44  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

Especially  may  this  be  urged,  when  we  regard 
the  trees  not  only  as  a  source  of  supply  for 
the  renewal  of  the  road-bed,  but  also  as  a  shel- 
ter from  sweeping  winds  and  a  preventive  of 
impeding  snows,  often  such  a  hindrance  and 
source  of  expense.  We  have  it  on  the  authority 
of  the  superintendent  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  that  the  removal  of  obstructions  by 
snow  on  that  road  during  the  winter  of  1882-83 
cost  not  less  than  $100,000,  and  he  estimates  that 
by  planting  a  shelter-belt  of  trees  along  the  line 
of  the  road,  at  a  cost  of  one  fourth  that  sum, 
a  permanent  protection  from  impeding  drifts 
may  be  secured.  The  work  has  already  been 
begun.  Some  other  Western  companies  are 
doing  a  like  work,  and  where,  as  in  so  many 
cases,  they  have  such  ample  grants  of  land  as 
have  been  given  them,  there  would  seem  to  be 
no  good  reason  why  they  should  not  only  plant 
shelter-belts  along  their  lines,  but  devote  sec- 
tions enough  to  the  growth  of  forest-trees  to 
supply  in  the  not  distant  future  all  their  needs 
for  ties.  By  so  doing,  they  would  not  only  pro- 
mote their  own  interests  and  the  comfort  of 
travel,  but  would  be  doing  their  part  to  secure 


WHERE   TO  PLANT.  45 

for  the  region  through  which  they  pass  those 
ameliorating  chmatic  influences  and  those  bene- 
ficial effects  upon  agriculture  which  forests  are 
adapted  to  produce. 

Finally,  we  name,  not  so  much  on  the  score 
of  profit  or  advantage,  as  of  comfort  and  taste, 
our  common  roads  and  the  streets  of  our  cities 
and  villages,  as  appropriate  places  for  the  plant- 
ing of  trees.  What  else  is  there  that  gives  such 
a  charm  to  many  of  the  villages  in  the  older 
parts  of  our  country,  and  especially  to  many  of 
the  New  England  villages,  as  the  lines  of  noble, 
graceful  trees  which  border  and  often  overarch 
their  streets,  and  whose  beauty  every  one  sees 
and  feels  ?  The  beauty  and  charm  are  so  mani- 
fest to  the  dullest  nature  almost,  that  as  popula- 
tion has  spread  into  newer  regions,  road-side 
planting  has  been  often  repeated.  In  many 
cases,  however,  there  has  been  neglect  in  this 
particular,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  country  there 
are  places  where,  by  a  comparatively  little  ex- 
pense in  planting  the  proper  trees  along  the 
street-borders,  villages  and  towns  now  unat- 
tractive and  even  forbidding  in  appearance,  per- 
haps, would  be  transformed  into  inviting  places 


46  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

of  residence.  The  whole  tone  of  society  would 
be  perceptibly  improved  in  a  few  years,  as,  fol- 
lowing the  appearance  of  the  trees,  one  change 
after  another  would  come  in  for  the  better. 

But  why  should  not  the  highways  that  lead 
from  village  to  village  and  from  town  to  town 
have  pleasant  borders  of  trees  as  well  as  the 
village  streets?  How  pleasant  would  be  their 
screen  from  sun  and  wind  oftentimes  !  What  a 
preventive  of  the  annoyance  of  dust,  and  how 
grateful  to  the  sight  their  varied  forms  of  grace 
and  beauty  !  In  some  European  countries  the 
planting  of  trees  by  the  road-side  is  made  ob- 
ligatory by  law. 

Usefulness  is  combined  with  beauty  also,  by 
choosing  fruit-bearing  trees  for  road-side  plant- 
ing. We  might  well  follow  the  example  of 
those  countries  in  both  these  respects.  What 
beautiful  forms  do  many  of  our  fruit-bearing 
trees  have,  as,  for  instance,  the  cherry  and  the 
pear,  or  the  hickory  and  chestnut !  And  let  us 
not  suppose  that,  if  trees  of  this  class  were  made 
thus  abundant,  so  that  the  passer-by  might  be 
free  to  help  himself  for  his  present  satisfaction, 
our  people  would  not  be  as  easily  restrained 


WHERE    TO  PLANT.  47 

from  plundering  or  injuring  the  trees  as  are  the 
European  populace.  In  proportion  as  fruit  is 
abundant,  the  temptation  to  plunder  is  lessened. 
Put  people  on  their  good  behavior,  and  you  in- 
crease their  self-respect,  and  with  that  their  re- 
spect for  the  rights  of  others. 


III. 

WHAT  TO   PLANT. 

No  general  and  comprehensive  answer  to 
this  question  can  be  given.  The  answer  in 
any  particular  case  will  be  determined  by  the 
special  object  one  has  in  view  in  planting,  and 
also  by  the  character  of  the  climate  and  soil 
where  the  trees  are  to  grow ;  in  part,  also,  by 
the  personal  preferences  of  the  planter.  If 
one  is  planting  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
best  return  of  timber  or  lumber  from  his  for- 
est, he  will,  very  properly,  plant  a  different 
class  of  trees  from  what  he  would  choose  for 
the  purpose  of  making  a  wind-break  or  to  add 
their  charm  of  beauty  to  a  lawn.  If  the  land 
which  he  proposes  to  devote  to  the  growth 
of  trees  is  of  a  light,  sandy  character,  his  se- 
lection of  trees  will  be  different  from  what 
it   would    be    if    the    soil   were    a   deep,    rich 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  49 

loam.  A  dry  soil  will  favor  a  different  class 
of  trees  from  one  that  is  moist  or  wet.  Some 
trees  will  bear  exposure  to  winds  better  than 
others.  Some  will  bear  a  temperature  that 
others  will  not.  A  variation  of  a  few  degrees 
of  the  thermometer  is  sufficient  to  decide  the 
question  of  success  or  failure  in  planting  many 
trees.  Some,  again,  are  of  slow  growth  as  com- 
pared with  others,  in  themselves  of  equal  value. 
Some  have  a  symmetry  of  form  that  others 
have  not,  and  may  be  preferable  on  this  ac- 
count. Some,  by  their  structure,  are  better 
adapted  to  use  in  the  arts  than  others.  All 
these  considerations  are  taken  into  account  in 
deciding  in  any  given  case  what  to  plant.  Suc- 
cess depends  upon  it. 

Native  Trees. 

But  while  each  one  must  answer  for  him- 
self the  question.  What  to  plant  ?  it  is  safe  ad- 
vice to  the  inexperienced  tree-planter,  and  may 
be  very  serviceable  to  him,  when  we  urge  him 
to  plant  native  trees.  By  this  we  mean  not 
simply  those  that  may  be  found  growing  freely 


50  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

in  some  part  of  our  own  country,  in  distinc- 
tion from  those  whose  native  home  is  in  other 
lands,  but  we  mean  those  which  are  found 
growing  spontaneously  in  the  particular  region 
where  the  proposed  planting  is  to  be  done.  It 
is  always  safe  to  follow  the  indications  of  Na- 
ture. If  one  is  at  a  loss  how  to  commence  the 
work  of  tree-planting,  let  him  look  around  him 
or  in  the  region  nearest  him  where  trees  are 
growing  and  have  come  to  maturity  without  the 
aid  of  man.  He  may  be  sure  that  it  will  be 
safe  for  him  to  plant  such  trees.  These  are 
what  Nature  certifies  to  him  are  adapted  to  the 
conditions  of  soil  and  climate  which  exist  where 
his  lot  is  cast.  He  may  be  where  trees  are 
few  at  the  best.  He  may  be  on  the  prairie, 
and  where,  perhaps,  the  annually  recurring  fires 
have  kept  down  almost  all  arboreal  growth. 
But  here  and  there,  along  some  stream,  he 
will  find  a  few  trees,  at  least,  lifting  themselves 
up,  to  show  that  trees  are  possible.  Let  him 
be  encouraged  by  this  sure  indication.  Let 
him  gather  the  seeds  of  these  trees,  or  take 
sprouts  from  them,  and  plant  with  confidence. 
They  may  not  be  trees  of   the   most   valuable 


WHAT   TO  PLANT.  51 

class,  possibly.  They  may  not  be  the  most  de- 
sirable for  timber.  They  may  not  be  century- 
growing  oaks.  But  they  are  the  most  valuable 
trees  for  him  for  present  use,  because  they 
have  the  certification  of  adaptability.  They 
are  on  their  native  ground.  Let  him  begin 
with  these.  Then,  if  he  chooses  to  experiment 
with  others  afterward,  or  even  in  connection 
with  these,  let  him  do  so.  The  first  necessity 
of  the  dweller  on  the  naked  prairie,  or  any 
place  bare  of  trees,  is  to  get  whatever  tree  will 
hide,  in  part  at  least,  its  nakedness.  He  wants 
to  begin  with  a  screen  about  his  house,  some- 
thing that  will  stand  between  him  and  the 
freezing  and  scorching  blasts  that  by  turns 
sweep  by,  and  he  wants  something  to  shut 
him  in  a  little  from  the  boundless  sea  of  space 
around  him  and  give  him  a  sense  of  locality 
and  neighborhood,  some  companionship  close  at 
hand,  if  it  be  but  the  companionship  of  trees. 
And  there  is  a  deal  of  companionship  in  them. 
There  are  "  tongues  in  trees,"  as  many  others 
know,  as  well  as  Shakespeare. 

And  so,  also,  the  man   thus  situated    wants 
sheltering  belts,  or  stretches  of  trees,  for   his 


52  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

cattle  and  his  crops.  He  needs  wood  for  fuel 
and  for  fences  as  soon  as  may  be.  Nature  points 
him  to  the  cottonwood  and  the  willow,  not 
far  away,  with  their  rapid  growth,  and  with 
these  his  immediate  and  most  pressing  wants 
are  met.  And  while  these  are  his  dependence 
for  present  effect,  there  are  other  trees  in  great 
numbers  offering  themselves  to  his  use  as  he 
looks  for  more  distant,  and,  in  a  sense,  more 
valuable  results. 

Our  country  is  wonderfully  rich  in  its  va- 
rieties of  trees,  and  there  are  valuable  ones 
adapted  to  every  portion  of  it.  At  our  Cen- 
tennial Exhibition  at  Philadelphia,  more  than 
four  hundred  native  species  were  shown.  Prof. 
Brewer  estimates  that  we  have  as  many  as 
eight  hundred  species  of  woody  plants  indige- 
nous to  the  United  States.  Two  hundred  and 
fifty  of  these,  and  which  grow  to  the  height 
of  thirty  feet,  are  abundant  somewhere  in  our 
country.  We  have  a  hundred  and  fifty  species 
of  trees  of  larger  size,  of  which  fifty  are  of 
the  coniferous  class.  Twenty  species  grow  to  a 
height  of  more  than  one  hundred  feet.  Twelve 
species  attain  a  height  of  two  hundred  feet.   Five 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  53 

or  six  gain  a  height  of  more  than  three  hundred 
feet.  We  have  thirty-eight  species  of  the  oak, 
and  five  of  the  ash,  second  only  to  the  oak  in 
value.  There  are  not  more  than  fifty  species 
of  forest-trees  in  all  Europe  worth  cultivating. 
Out  of  this  great  variety  of  trees  with  which 
our  country  abounds,  there  is  comparatively 
little  difficulty  in  finding  valuable  kinds  adapt- 
ed to  almost  any  situation.  There  are  the  ma- 
ples and  birches,  the  beeches  and  elms.  There 
are  the  walnuts,  black  and  white,  the  latter 
more  commonly  known  as  the  butternut. 
There  are  the  hickories,  peculiarly  American 
trees,  and  for  which  there  is  a  great  demand 
in  Europe  as  well  as  in  our  country,  for  uses 
where  strength  and  toughness  are  needed. 
There  is  the  chestnut,  quick  growing  and  use- 
ful for  so  many  purposes,  and  whose  fruit  by 
cultivation  would  be  made  to  exceed  that  of 
the  Spanish  in  size  and  value.  There  are  the 
tuHp,  or  white-wood,  and  the  bass,  or  linden- 
trees,  and  the  sycamore  and  the  various  gum- 
trees,  with  the  hackberry,  the  cherry,  and  the 
locust.  And  then  there  are  the  fifty  species 
of  cone-bearing  trees,  the   pines,   spruces,  and 


54  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

larches,  so  valuable  both  for  lumber  and  for 
their  resinous  products,  as  well  as  for  screens, 
and  for  their  cheering  beauty  in  the  season  when 
the  deciduous  trees  have  dropped  their  foliage. 

We  can  not,  within  the  compass  of  a  volume 
like  this,  speak  in  detail  of  the  long-  catalogue  of 
trees  which  offer  themselves  to  our  hand  for 
planting,  and  which,  for  one  purpose  or  another, 
are  valuable,  and  commend  themselves  to  the 
attention  of  the  planter.  We  leave  that  to  the 
special  treatises  on  the  subject,  and  confine  our 
remarks  to  a  few  trees  which  are  worthy  of  al- 
most universal  consideration. 

One  who  is  contemplating  planting  on  a  con- 
siderable scale,  can  hardly  go  amiss  in  making 
use  of  the  oak,  in  one  or  more  of  its  varieties,  a 
tree  which,  as  far  back  as  history  goes,  and 
among  so  many  nations,  has  been  recognized 
and  cherished  on  account  of  its  many  valuable 
qualities.  For  fuel  and  for  timber,  for  building 
and  for  many  purposes  in  the  constructive  arts, 
it  easily  ranks  as  one  of  our  most  valuable 
woods,  if  it  does  not  stand  clearly  at  the  head  of 
the  list.  And  already  the  alarm  is  sounded  that 
this  tree,  so  common,  so  well  known,  growing 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  55 

throughout  such  a  wide  range  of  latitude  and 
longitude,  is  becoming  scarce.  By  this  is  meant 
the  finer  specimens,  the  sound  and  well-ripened 
trees  which  will  make  the  best  grade  of  timber 
or  furnish  lumber  fit  for  the  uses  of  the  carpen- 
ter and  cabinet-maker.  European  agents  are 
constantly  searching  our  forests  in  quest  of  this 
tree. 

The  oak,  if  the  king  of  trees,  grows  slowly, 
and,  though  valuable  for  some  purposes  at  all 
stages  of  its  growth,  only  reaches  the  maturity 
of  its  strength  and  its  greatest  value  with  the 
lapse  of  centuries.  Oaks  and  beeches  grow  well 
together,  as  the  roots  of  the  former  penetrate 
the  ground  deeply,  while  those  of  the  latter 
spread  upon  the  surface.  In  our  reckless  treat- 
ment of  the  forests  hitherto,  our  best  trees  have 
been  destroyed  for  the  commonest  purposes, 
sometimes  only  to  get  them  out  of  the  way. 
Quite  early  in  our  history,  fear  was  excited  on 
this  account,  lest  there  should  soon  be  a  scarcity 
of  the  oak  of  a  quality  desirable  for  ship-build- 
ing. But  we  have  continued  our  reckless  con- 
sumption until  some  species  of  trees  have  be- 
come well-nigh  extinct,  and  it  is  only  with  diffi- 


$6  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

culty  that  fine  specimens  of  others  can  be  ob- 
tained. The  steady  increase  of  the  market-price 
of  almost  all  our  woods,  and  the  rapid  increase 
of  that  of  some,  is  the  sufficient  proof  of  our 
wasteful  use  of  the  forests  without  having  made 
any  provision  for  their  renewal. 

The  most  valuable  of  our  forest-trees  is, 
unquestionably,  the  white  pine  {Pinus  strobiis). 
While  it  can  not  take  the  place  of  the  oak  or  of 
some  other  trees  for  particular  purposes,  we 
have  no  other  tree  which  meets  our  need  for  so 
many  uses  as  this  does.  It  combines  strength 
with  lightness  as  no  other  wood  does.  Hence  it 
is  in  great  demand  for  the  masts  and  yards  of 
vessels.  It  enters  into  the  construction  of  our 
buildings  of  every  kind  as  no  other  wood  does. 
It  long  ago  took  the  place  of  the  hard-woods, 
such  as  the  oak  and  the  chestnut,  for  the  frames 
of  buildings  and  for  floor-beams.  On  account  of 
its  being  so  easily  worked  by  the  tools  of  the 
carpenter  and  cabinet-maker,  in  this  respect  sur- 
passing all  other  woods,  it  has  been  almost  uni- 
versally used  for  the  outside  covering  and  the 
interior  finishing  of  buildings,  and  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  multitude  of  articles  which  minis- 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  $7 

ter  to  the  necessities  or  the  conveniences  of  life. 
So  extensive  and  so  multiform  has  been  its  use, 
that  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where  it  has 
abounded,  it  has  been  almost  the  one  tree  known 
and  used.  And  so  desirable  is  it,  on  account  of 
its  peculiar  qualities,  that  it  has  been  carried  in 
great  quantities  far  beyond  the  regions  of  its 
native  growth. 

The  proper  home  of  this  tree  is  in  cool  lati- 
tudes or  on  the  high  hills.  At  the  settlement  of 
this  country  a  belt  of  this  timber  stretched  from 
New  Brunswick  on  the  east  to  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  along  the  Alleghany  Mountains  as 
far  south  as  Georgia.  Maine  has  been  known  as 
the  Pine-Tree  State,  on  account  of  the  almost 
exclusive  prevalence  there  of  this  tree  and  the 
kindred  spruce.  The  value  of  the  white  pine 
is  shown,  and  its  adaptability  to  many  uses, 
when  we  find  that,  owing  to  the  demand  for  it, 
the  forests  of  Maine  have  been  virtually  swept 
away  by  the  lumberman's  axe,  enough  only  be- 
ing left  for  home  consumption,  while  the  inter- 
vening region  has  been  nearly  cleared,  and  ten 
years  more,  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption, 
threaten  to  leave  nothing  valuable  of  the  great 


58  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

pine-forests  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  The 
limited  supply  of  pine  has  doubled  its  price 
within  a  few  years,  and  will  inevitably  increase 
it  still  more.  Whoever  has  a  tract  of  this  wood 
now  growing,  has  a  valuable  property,  well 
worth  his  care  and  protection ;  and  whoever 
plants  a  tract  of  land  with  this  tree  may  be  sure 
that  he  could  put  his  ground  to  no  more  pi'ofit- 
able  use. 

The  white  ash  and  its  kindred  species 
are  among  the  most  widely  diffused  and  valu- 
able hard-woods.  The  ash  is  commended  to 
the  planter  by  its  rapid  growth,  as  well  as  its 
substantial  qualities.  It  is  one  of  our  most 
beautiful  trees,  and  eminently  adapted  for  plant- 
ing on  the  lawn,  or  along  the  street  border. 
But  it  is  also  one  of  our  most  valuable  timber 
and  lumber  trees.  The  wood  is  in  great  demand 
for  the  manufacture  of  agricultural  tools  and 
machines,  for  carriage-building,  the  making  of 
oars,  barrels,  tubs,  and  many  other  things. 
While  it  is  light,  it  is  very  tough  and  elastic. 
It  is  much  sought  for  by  cabinet-makers,  and 
is  coming  into  use  quite  extensively  for  the  in- 
terior finish  of  dwellings.    There  is  a  large  de- 


WHAT  TO  PLANT,  59 

mand  for  it  from  foreign  countries.  It  prom- 
ises, therefore,  to  be  one  of  the  most  profit- 
able trees  for  the  planter's  use.  It  is  adapted 
to  the  cool  climate  of  our  Northern  States,  but 
grows  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Louisiana,  and  is 
one  of  the  few  deciduous  trees  found  also  on 
the  Pacific  slope.  It  is  best  grown  in  a  cool, 
deep,  and  moist  soil,  and  does  well  when  min- 
gled with  other  trees  of  denser  foliage,  as  the 
beech  and  maple. 

The  linden,  or  bass  -  wood,  and  the  tulip- 
tree,  or  white-wood,  sometimes  also  called  the 
yellow  poplar — though  it  is  not  a  poplar — are 
trees  of  great  value.  They  have  a  wide  range, 
being  found  from  Canada  to  Florida,  and  as 
far  west  as  Kansas.  As  the  white  pine  is  be- 
coming scarce,  these  woods  are  substituted  for 
it  in  many  cases,  especially  in  house-building. 
They  are  extensively  used  also  for  the  manu- 
facture of  furniture,  carriage-bodies,  trunks,  and 
boxes  of  various  kinds.  While  light,  they  are 
strong  and  easily  wrought,  and  their  use  is 
likely  to  increase.  They  are  also  among  our 
most  desirable  trees  for  ornamental  planting, 
whether  on  the  lawn  or  by  the  road-side. 


6o  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

With  them  may  be  classed  the  sycamore 
and  the  maples,  which  are  at  home  throughout 
a  wide  extent  of  our  country,  and  offer  them- 
selves for  a  great  variety  of  uses.  They  are 
among  our  most  valuable  trees  for  fuel,  and, 
with  all  our  use  of  lumber  in  the  arts  and  for 
building  purposes,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
three  fourths  of  the  legitimate  demand  upon 
the  forests  is  for  fuel.  In  our  general  esti- 
mates of  the  value  and  importance  of  the  for- 
ests, we  perhaps  lose  sight  of  their  value  in 
this  respect.  But  this,  after  all,  is  their  chief 
and  commonest  use.  Coal  may  lessen  the  de- 
mand upon  the  forests  for  fuel,  in  some  places, 
and  for  a  certain  length  of  time.  But  the  coal- 
mines are  not  inexhaustible.  Coal  does  not 
grow — wood  does.  The  English  have  already 
begun  to  forecast  the  time  when  their  coal- 
fields will  be  exhausted.  What,  then,  will  re- 
main for  them  but  to  bring  their  fuel  from 
abroad?  And  what  will  be  the  condition  of 
their  great  manufacturing  industries,  when  the 
fuel  which  drives  their  machinery  has  to  be 
brought  from  afar  instead  of  being  mined  cheap- 
ly at  home  ?    Put  off  the  time  of  the  exhaustion 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  6 1 

of  our  immense  coal-fields  as  far  as  we  may, 
there  will  come  a  time  of  exhaustion.  Formerly 
we  thought  our  forests  as  exhaustless  as  we  now 
think  our  coal-mines  to  be,  and  yet  we  are  look- 
ing upon  an  almost  naked  country  where  the 
forests  once  darkened  the  land.  But  if  what  re- 
mains is  properly  husbanded,  and  if  forests  are 
planted  on  the  hills  and  on  the  waste  and  un- 
tillable  lands,  we  can  have,  for  all  time  to  come, 
all  the  lumber  we  need  for  the  arts  and  for 
construction  purposes,  and  all  the  wood  we 
need  for  fuel,  while  at  the  same  time  we  are  so 
maintaining  the  balance  of  the  natural  forces 
as  to  secure  the  highest  measure  of  health  and 
material  prosperity. 

Not  to  speak  of  the  particular  merits  of 
others  of  the  maple  class,  the  rock  or  hard 
maple,  known  also  as  the  sugar-maple,  deserves 
special  consideration.  No  tree,  perhaps,  com- 
bines in  itself  more  desirable  qualities.  No  tree 
excels  it  in  beauty  of  form,  in  massive  solidity 
of  appearance,  none  in  beauty  of  foliage,  espe- 
cially when  it  puts  on  its  robes  of  crimson 
and  gold  in  the  autumn  of  the  year.      Then  it 

seems  the  very  monarch  of  the  trees.     Its  wood 
6 


62  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

is  also  as  solid  as  the  outward  appearance  of 
the  tree  would  indicate.  It  is  of  fine  texture, 
adapting  it  to  many  important  uses,  such  as 
the  framework  of  machinery,  agricultural  im- 
plements, and  tools  of  various  kinds.  It  is  used 
extensively  in  making  furniture  and  cabinet- 
work. No  other  wood  unites  in  an  equal  de- 
gree the  properties  of  ease  in  working,  tough- 
ness, compactness,  and  perfect  smoothness  when 
exposed  to  wear.  Not  unfrequently  the  pecul- 
iarity of  its  grain  gives  us  the  beautiful  "  bird's- 
eye-maple,"  as  it  is  called,  or  the  "  curled  ma- 
ple," so  highly  prized  by  the  cabinet-maker,  and 
contributing  so  much  to  the  ornament  of  our 
dwellings.  For  fuel  this  tree  is  second  only  to 
hickory,  and  for  making  charcoal  it  is  unsur- 
passed. But,  to  all  these  qualities  which  make 
it  so  valuable,  is  added  the  saccharine  nature 
of  its  sap,  which  brings  it  into  competition  with 
the  cane  of  the  tropics  for  the  production  of 
sugar.  On  this  account  it  deserves  special  con- 
sideration by  the  tree-planter.  The  census  re- 
ports the  annual  production  of  sugar  from  the 
maple  as  35,576,061  pounds,  and  1,796,048  gal- 
Ions  of  sirup  in  addition,  equivalent  to  20,000,000 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  6^ 

pounds  of  sugar,  making  a  total  sugar-product 
of  55,576,061  pounds.  This  sugar  is  of  the  best 
quahty,  nearly  identical  in  chemical  composi- 
tion with  the  cane-sugar  of  commerce,  but  hav- 
ing also  a  peculiar  flavor  which  makes  it  a  uni- 
versal favorite.  Why  should  we  not  avail  our- 
selves of  the  capability  of  the  maple  for  sugar- 
making  more  than  we  do?  It  is  estimated 
that  the  average  product  of  well-grown  trees  is 
from  three  to  six  pounds  a  year,  and  this  with- 
out injury  to  the  tree  in  its  final  product  of  tim- 
ber or  fuel.  An  important  industry  and  source 
of  revenue  is  here  opened.  We  might  produce 
a  quantity  of  sugar  from  this  source  which 
would  materially  lessen  our  outlay  for  that 
which  we  now  import  at  great  cost.  It  would 
require  but  a  few  acres  devoted  to  the  growth 
of  the  maple  to  furnish  the  farmer  with  an 
ample  supply  of  this  important  article  of  domes- 
tic comfort  and  use.  The  "  sugar-bush,"  as  it  is 
called,  might  be  greatly  extended  in  many  parts 
of  our  country  with  manifest  advantage,  for 
while  this  maple  combines  in  itself  almost  every 
desirable  tree-quality,  it  has  also  a  very  widely- 
extended  range,  being  found  in  greater  or  less 


64  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

abundance  from  the  forty-second  degree  of 
north  latitude  to  Georgia,  and  from  the  eastern 
border  of  Maine  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Among  the  maples  the  box-elder  {Negimdo 
aceroides),  or  ash-leaved  maple,  is  especially  wor- 
thy of  notice,  on  account  of  its  hardiness  and 
rapidity  of  growth.  For  this  reason,  though  it 
is  an  inferior  tree  for  lumber,  it  is  valuable  for 
use,  especially  on  the  dry  and  bare  plains  of  the 
Northwest.  Its  form  and  foliage  likewise  make 
it  a  desirable  tree  for  planting  by  the  road-side. 
It  has  also  a  saccharine  sap,  from  which  sirup 
and  sugar  are  made,  but  its  value  on  this  ac- 
count is  not  equal  to  that  of  the  sugar-maple. 

Another  tree  of  rapid  growth,  but  of  more 
substantial  merit,  is  the  locust  {Robiiiia  pseiidaca- 
cid).  This  tree  deserves  more  attention  than  it 
has  commonly  received.  No  tree  when  young 
is  more  beautiful,  owing  to  the  peculiar  tint  and 
shape  of  its  leaves,  and  the  graceful  disposition 
of  its  long  and  slender  branches,  in  which  it  re- 
sembles the  willows.  It  is  one  of  the  trees  to  be 
chosen  for  planting  near  the  dwelling,  especially 
where  it  is  desirable  to  get  the  shelter  or  com- 
panionship of  trees  quickly.     But  the  locust  has 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  6$ 

other  claims  to  attention.  While  it  is  of  very 
rapid  growth,  it  is  one  of  our  most  valuable 
timber-trees.  It  is  compact  in  structure,  close- 
grained,  very  strong  and  durable.  No  other 
wood  will  bear  a  greater  strain.  It  is  especially 
valuable  for  fence-posts,  resisting  decay,  when 
used  for  this  purpose,  better  than  any  other 
wood  except  the  cedar  and  the  catalpa.  It  has 
long  been  sought  after  for  treenails  for  ships 
and  for  the  floors  of  vessels,  and  it  is  adapted 
to  many  other  uses.  It  is  easily  propagated,  is 
at  home  throughout  a  wide  belt  of  country, 
reaching  from  the  New  England  coast  to  the  far 
West,  and  will  grow  in  comparatively  poor 
soils.  Owing  to  its  peculiar  foliage,  grass  will 
grow  under  the  shade  of  this  tree  more  freely 
than  under  that  of  most  trees,  and  cattle  may  be 
pastured  in  locust-woods  with  comparative  im- 
punity to  the  trees.  It  has  been  extensively  cul- 
tivated on  Long  Island  for  a  century,  and  its 
cultivation  has  been  found  profitable.  The  prin- 
cipal discouragement  which  the  planter  meets  is 
the  attack  of  the  borer,  but  in  many  localities 
there  is  comparatively  little  trouble  from  this 
source. 


66  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

The  honey-locust  {Gleditschia  triacanthos),  or 
three-thorned  acacia,  though  a  different  species 
of  tree,  and  not  equal  in  valuable  qualities  to 
the  Robinia,  or  common  locust,  is  yet  a  substan- 
tial tree,  and  worthy  of  cultivation. 

The  elm,  of  course,  will  not  be  forgotten  or 
neglected  by  the  tree-planter.  As  a  single  tree 
on  the  lawn,  or  by  the  side  of  a  wide  road, 
where  it  has  room  in  which  to  spread  and  de- 
velop its  true  character,  we  have  no  tree  among 
the  broad-leaved  or  deciduous  species  equal  to 
it  in  combined  grandeur  and  beauty.  And  so  it 
has  been  a  favorite  tree  for  planting  by  the  road- 
side, dividing  favor  in  this  respect  with  the 
maple  alone.  It  reaches  its  best  development 
along  the  river-valleys  of  the  Middle  States  and 
New  England.  No  one  who  has  seen  the  elms 
of  the  Connecticut  Valley  at  Northampton  or 
Deerfield,  or  who  has  walked  under  the  over- 
arching elms  of  Temple  Street  and  Hillhouse 
Avenue,  New  Haven,  will  ever  expect  to  see 
anything  finer  in  tree-form,  or  wonder  that  a 
city  which  bears  the  honor  of  being  the  seat 
of  Yale  College  should  also  be  called  the  "  Elm 
City." 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  67 

But  the  elms,  of  which  we  have  four  species 
at  least  besides  the  white,  are  all  estimable  for- 
est-trees, having  a  high  fuel-value,  as  well  as 
great  usefulness  as  timber  for  many  constructive 
purposes.  Elm  is  the  favorite  wood  for  the 
hubs  of  carriage-wheels  and  for  ships'  blocks, 
and  is  in  demand  for  many  other  uses.  It  bears 
well  exposure  to  the  atmosphere.  While  it 
grows  best  in  deep,  moist  soils,  it  is  found  in  a 
great  variety  of  situations. 

The  birches,  among  the  most  widely  diffused 
of  all  our  trees,  are  also  among  the  most  valua- 
ble, though  they  have  often  been  underrated  be- 
cause of  their  very  abundance,  or  because  they 
do  not  compete  with  the  oak  and  the  pine  as 
timber-trees.  But  they  have  a  very  high  fuel- 
value,  and,  when  we  consider  that  by  far  the 
largest  and  most  necessary  use  of  the  trees  is  for 
heating  purposes,  we  shall  feel  that  this  class  of 
trees  ought  to  be  cherished  by  us.  They  have 
other  qualities,  however,  which  commend  them 
to  our  attention.  For  many  small  articles  of 
manufacture  the  birch  is  preferred  to  any  other 
wood.  For  spools  and  bobbins,  for  instance,  and 
for  many  articles  made  by  the  turner's  art,  the 


68  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

white  birch  is  in  great  demand,  and  birch-forests 
are  frequently  bought  by  our  manufacturing  es- 
tabhshments,  to  the  extent  of  thousands  of  acres, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  sufficient  supply 
for  such  uses.  The  (in  one  view)  insignificant 
article  of  shoe-pegs  makes  annual  demands 
upon  the  birch-forests  to  the  extent  of  many 
acres,  these  little  helps  to  locomotion  being 
made  very  commonly  of  this  wood.  The  white 
birch,  moreover,  has  large  claims  as  an  orna- 
mental tree.  What  is  finer  than  the  delicate 
ramification  of  its  limbs,  which  give  it  a  positive 
beauty  in  winter,  while  in  the  leafy  season  the 
contrast  of  the  white  wrapping  of  its  silvery 
trunk  with  the  prevalent  green  of  grass,  and  the 
darker  hues  of  other  trees  around,  sets  the 
whole  lawn  or  landscape  into  life  ?  Indeed,  the 
birches,  as  a  whole,  are  among  our  most  beauti- 
ful trees. 

The  beech  is  another  of  the  nobler  forest- 
trees,  carrying  a  denser  mass  of  foliage  than 
most  other  trees,  while  its  wood  is  among  the 
most  useful,  having  a  high  specific  gravity,  great 
value  for  fuel,  and  is  held  in  much  esteem  for 
many  mechanical  uses,  especially  in  the  manu- 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  6g 

facture  of  planes,  tool-handles,  and  the  like. 
The  fruit  of  the  beech-tree,  the  beechnuts,  or 
beech-mast  is  also  valuable  as  food  for  swine, 
and  in  Europe  the  right  of  feeding  swine  in  the 
great  forests  of  beech  and  oak,  or  the  right  of 
"  pasturage,"  was  one  of  the  most  valuable 
rights  of  the  peasantry.  In  the  endeavor  to 
improve  the  quality  and  productiveness  of  the 
forests  in  recent  times,  by  protecting  the  young 
trees  from  injury  by  animals,  this  has  been  the 
most  difficult  right  to  extinguish.  The  peas- 
antry have  clung  to  it  tenaciously. 

The  willows  have  not  received  the  attention 
which  they  have  deserved  from  tree-planters. 
The  weeping-willow,  an  imported  tree,  and 
limited  in  the  range  of  its  adaptability  to  our 
soil  and  climate,  has  been  used  to  some  extent 
as  an  ornamental  tree  on  the  lawn  and  as  a  fu- 
nereal tree  in  the  cemetery,  and  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  see  other  willows  growing  spon- 
taneously along  the  water-courses,  without  re- 
garding them  as  having  any  particular  value. 
Their  principal  use  has  been  as  cheap  fuel,  ex- 
cept where  a  powder-mill  has  happened  to  be 
near  where  they  have  grown,  and  then  the  own- 


70  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

er  of  them  has  found  it  for  his  advantage  to  cut 
off  the  sprouts,  after  a  few  years'  growth,  and 
take  them  to  the  mill,  as  the  qualities  of  this 
wood  make  it  very  desirable  in  the  manufacture 
of  powder. 

But  the  willow  is  a  quite  valuable  tree.  Few 
trees  are  so  easily  cultivated  or  adapt  them- 
selves to  so  many  situations.  It  grows  rapidly, 
and  the  white  or  gray  willow  especially,  if  al- 
lowed to  do  so,  attains  a  large  size.  There  is 
one  in  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  which,  at 
four  feet  from  the  ground,  measures  twenty -two 
feet  in  circumference.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
planted  seventy-five  years  ago.  Its  limbs  spread 
so  as  to  cover  an  area  of  nearly  one  hundred 
feet  diameter,  and  they  are  so  large  as  to  admit 
of  seats  being  constructed  among  them  in  the 
form  of  a  gallery,  which  is  reached  by  a  stair- 
case from  the  ground,  and  will  contain  nearly  a 
hundred  persons. 

Contrary  to  the  general  impression,  the  wil- 
low is  not  a  tree  which  is  confined  to  low  or 
wet  situations.  It  flourishes  equally  well  upon 
high  ground.  In  Europe  it  is  highly  esteemed 
as  a  timber-tree,  and  willow-lumber  is  constantly 


WHAT   TO  PLANT.  7 1 

quoted  in  the  market.  It  is  used  much  for  house 
and  ship  floors,  and  for  the  frames  of  buildings. 
It  is  light,  tough,  and  elastic.  A  peculiarity  of 
it  is  that  it  does  not  splinter  as  many  woods  do. 
This  adapts  it  to  use  for  flooring,  and  for  car- 
riage and  cart  bodies.  It  is  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  bowls,  trays,  and  other  vessels,  and 
for  turned  goods  of  various  sorts.  It  has  also 
great  durability  under  water  or  when  much  ex- 
posed to  its  action.  It  is  very  valuable,  there- 
fore, for  the  floats  of  paddle-wheels  and  the 
buckets  of  mill-wheels. 

Considerable  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
willow  of  late  in  the  Western  States,  especially 
in  those  which  have  been  lacking  in  trees,  where 
it  has  come  into  use  to  some  extent  for  hedges 
and  wind-breaks.  Its  use  may  well  be  encour- 
aged on  a  larger  scale.  Few  trees  will  yield  a 
supply  of  fuel  and  timber  as  soon  as  the  white 
willow. 

Special  attention  has  been  recently  called  to 
one  of  our  native  trees  which  we  have  not  men- 
tioned, but  which  ought  not  to  be  passed  in  si- 
lence. It  is  the  catalpa.  This  tree  abounds  in 
the  region  adjacent  to  the  confluence  of  the 


72  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  but  is  found  more 
or  less  throughout  the  Southern  and  Middle 
States,  and  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  Western. 
How  far  toward  the  north  it  can  Ije  successfully 
cultivated,  remains  to  be  proved  by  experiment. 
Hitherto  it  has  been  classed  among  the  orna- 
mental rather  than  the  useful  trees,  its  large,  fan- 
like leaves  and  showy  clusters  of  flowers,  some- 
what like  those  of  the  horse-chestnut,  making  it 
a  very  attractive  object  on  the  lawn  or  by  the 
street-side.  In  its  native  region,  however,  it  has 
had  a  reputation  for  great  durability,  especially 
when  exposed  alternately  to  the  influences  of 
dryness  and  moisture.  It  has  consequently  been 
much  in  request  for  posts  for  gates  and  fences, 
and  specimens  have  been  exhibited  which  have 
been  thus  used  for  a  great  number  of  years 
without  showing  signs  of  decay  to  any  consid- 
erable extent.  The  tree  is  said  to  have  been  a 
favorite  with  the  Indians  for  the  construction  of 
canoes,  because  of  its  durable  quality  when  ex- 
posed as  canoes  are,  and  because  of  its  not  being 
liable  to  crack.  Latterly  it  has  been  much 
sought  by  the  railroad  companies  for  ties,  on  ac- 
count of  its  durabihty.     It  has  been  so  much  in 


WHAT   TO  PLANT.  73 

demand  that  the  present  supply  for  this  pur- 
pose is  Hkely  soon  to  be  exhausted.  There  is 
an  increasing  demand  for  it  also  for  the  uses 
of  the  cabinet-maker  and  carpenter,  as  the  wood 
is  of  a  beautiful  color  and  grain,  and  takes  a 
high  polish,  making  it  valuable  for  the  manu- 
facture of  furniture  and  for  the  inside  finish  of 
houses.  With  these  desirable  qualities  it  com- 
bines great  rapidity  of  growth,  so  that  it  prom- 
ises to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  trees  for  the 
use  of  the  planter. 

There  are  two  species  or  varieties  of  this 
tree,  though,  until  recently,  they  have  been  con- 
founded. They  are  now  known  as  the  hardy 
and  the  tender,  or  Catalpa  speciosa  and  Catalpa 
bignonioides,  and  are  distinguishable  chiefly  by 
their  seeds  and  the  time  of  the  appearance  of 
their  flowers,  the  one  blooming  about  a  fort- 
night before  the  other.  The  earlier  one  is  the 
more  hardy,  and  is  to  be  chosen  by  those  plant- 
ing north  of  the  Ohio. 

The   railroad    companies    of    the    West  are 

wisely  turning  their  attention  to  this  tree,  and 

planting   it  on  a  considerable  scale  in  view  of 

their  future  wants  for  ties,  and  others  are  doing 
7 


74  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

the  same,  on  account  of  the  promise  it  gives  of 
pecuniary  returns. 

Another  tree  may  well  be  spoken  of  also  in 
connection  with  the  catalpa,  viz.,  the  ailanthus, 
or  "tree  of  heaven,"  as  it  is  sometimes  called. 
This  tree,  originally  from  China,  has  become 
quite  domesticated  with  us.  It  grows  as  far 
north  as  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  It  is  of 
rapid  growth,  is  propagated  easily  from  seeds 
or  cuttings,  and  attains  a  height  of  seventy  feet. 
The  wood  is  very  hard  and  compact,  has  a 
beautiful  grain,  and  the  tint  of  fresh  mahogany. 
It  is  valuable  for  the  cabinet-maker's  use.  The 
ailanthus  was  a  fashionable  tree  formerly,  and 
was  much  planted  in  door-yards  and  on  the 
streets  of  many  of  our  cities,  but  the  disagreeable 
odor  of  its  flowers,  and  perhaps  also  its  dispo- 
sition to  throw  up  suckers  freely,  led  to  its  being 
discarded.  But  the  bad  odor  of  its  blossoms 
pertains  to  the  trees  of  the  male  sex  only,  and 
may  be  avoided  by  a  proper  selection  in  this 
respect.  The  odor,  however,  will  be  no  special 
objection  to  a  tree  when  it  is  to  be  planted  not 
as  an  ornamental  tree,  and  near  the  house,  but 
for  forest  purposes.     The  ailanthus  has  a  high 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  75 

value  for  fuel.  Prof.  Sargent,  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum,  commends  it  in  strong  terms,  and 
expresses  the  opinion  that  we  have  no  tree  that 
promises  to  give  the  planter  so  valuable  return 
in  an  equal  space  of  time. 

An  entire  and  very  valuable  class  of  trees, 
with  the  exception  of  a  single  one  which  we 
have  mentioned,  remains  to  be  spoken  of.  It  is 
that  of  the  evergreens,  or  trees  which  are  not 
stripped  of  their  leaves  during  any  part  of  the 
year,  distinguished  otherwise  as  the  coniferous 
or  cone-bearing  trees.  As  a  class  they  are  of  a 
softer  texture  and  less  specific  gravity  than 
those  of  which  we  have  hitherto  spoken,  and 
which,  in  commercial  language,  are  known  as 
"  hard-woods."  But  the  evergreens  are  not  less 
valuable  than  the  latter.  Indeed,  they  make  up 
the  great  bulk  of  our  lumber-traffic,  and  furnish 
the  largest  share  of  material  used  in  the  arts  and 
industries  of  mechanical  life.  Nine  tenths  of  the 
lumber  in  the  market  now  is  probably  that  of  a 
single  species  of  the  evergreens,  the  white  pine. 
The  forests  of  the  Pacific  slope  are  made  up 
almost  wholly  of  the  coniferous  trees,  the  red- 
wood being  the  principal ;  and  a  belt  of  pines 


76  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

extends  along  the  Atlantic  coast  and  around  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Texas.  Of  the  white  pine 
we  have  spoken  already.  The  yellow  and  pitch 
pines,  though  inferior  to  that,  in  some  respects, 
are  of  great  value.  They  do  not  require  so 
cold  a  cUmate  or  so  rich  a  soil.  They  are  pro- 
verbial for  growing  on  the  poorest  ground, 
which  they  tend  to  enrich  by  the  decay  of  their 
foliage  as  it  falls  from  year  to  year.  On  this 
account  the  pines  may  be  used  to  prepare  the 
way  for  other  trees  which  it  is  desirable  to  es- 
tablish. 

In  the  Southern  portions  of  the  country  the 
yellow  pine  has  long  had  a  special  value,  on  ac- 
count of  its  yield  of  turpentine  and  its  associated 
products.  It  is  also  very  valuable  for  its  lum- 
ber, for  some  purposes  being  preferred  to  the 
white  pine,  and,  as  the  latter  is  becoming  scarce, 
the  former  is  often  used  as  a  substitute  for  it. 
It  is  harder  than  the  white  pine,  and  is  coming 
into  use  more  and  more  for  floors,  stairs,  win- 
dow-sashes, and  many  other  purposes. 

The  hemlock,  though  for  the  production  of 
lumber  it  is  inferior  to  the  pine  or  the  spruce,  is 
a  very  valuable  tree.     It  is  the  most  beautiful  of 


WHAT  TO  PLANT,  77 

all  our  evergreens,  for  while  it  attains  a  lofty 
stature,  like  that  of  the  pine,  its  limbs  and  foliage 
are  more  delicate,  and  the  tree  has  a  more 
graceful  appearance.  It  is  recognized  as  one  of 
the  most  desirable  trees  for  planting  on  the 
lawn.  It  is  one  of  the  best  trees  also  for  use  in 
making  screens  and  wind-breaks,  and  no  tree  is 
better  for  forming  hedges,  as  it  bears  the  shears 
extremely  well.  Though  it  does  not  produce 
lumber  of  the  first  class,  yet  where  it  is  not  ex- 
posed to  the  weather,  as  when  used  for  the  sills 
and  rafters  of  buildings  or  for  lining-boards, 
hemlock-lumber  is  strong  and  durable,  and  holds 
nails  better  than  pine  does.  But  in  addition  to 
its  other  merits,  the  bark  of  this  tree  is  among 
our  most  valuable  tanning  materials,  and  vast 
numbers  of  the  trees  have  been  cut  down  in 
the  forests  and  left  to  decay  after  being  deprived 
of  their  bark  ;  treated,  as  one  has  aptly  said,  like 
the  buffaloes,  that  are  stripped  of  their  skins  and 
left  to  decay. 

The  spruces,  black  and  white,  deserve  atten- 
tion. The  black  spruce,  especially  that  which 
grows  in  the  Eastern  States,  supplies  a  lumber 
which,  for  many  purposes,  may  be  substituted 


78  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

for  the  white  pine.  For  joists  and  roof-beams 
it  is  preferred,  as  also  for  the  lighter  spars  of 
vessels,  because  it  is  stiffer.  For  boards  also  the 
spruces  are  extensively  used  in  place  of  pine. 
The  Norway  spruce  is  completely  naturalized  in 
our  country,  and  deserves  consideration  by  the 
tree-planter.  It  is  one  of  our  largest  and  finest 
trees,  and  second  only  to  the  hemlock  in  beauty 
and  for  ornamental  purposes.  When  allowed 
sufficient  space  it  spreads  its  branches  widely 
and  in  a  downward  direction,  so  that  after  a  few 
years  they  rest  upon  the  ground,  and  the  tree 
rises  thence,  as  almost  a  solid  cone,  to  a  height 
of  seventy  feet  or  more,  forming  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year  a  delightful  object.  This  spruce 
will  be  found  among  the  best  trees  for  making 
shelter-belts  on  the  exposed  prairies  and  along 
the  sea-coasts,  and  wherever  there  is  occasion 
to  form  screens  to  protect  from  troublesome 
winds. 

In  speaking  of  planting  by  the  sea-coast, 
however,  it  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
many  trees  will  not  bear  the  exposure  to  winds 
which  are  not  only  severe  in  themselves  but  are 
also  laden  with  salt-spray.     It  is  thought  that 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  79 

some  of  the  hard-wood  trees  bear  this  exposure 
better  than  the  evergreens,  and  that  the  latter 
do  better  when  they  have  a  row  or  two  of 
such  trees  as  the  poplar  or  the  bass-wood 
planted  nearest  to  the  water  to  form  a  partial 
screen  for  them.  But,  wherever  trees  are  ex- 
posed to  strong  winds,  they  bear  the  exposure 
better  when  planted  in  several  rows  than  when 
they  are  in  a  single  line.  They  seem  in  the  for- 
mer case  to  give  each  other  support. 

The  cedars  are  as  widely  diffused  in  this 
country  as  any  trees  we  have.  They  are  found, 
especially  the  red,  in  almost  every  kind  of  soil 
and  situation.  There  is  no  place  where  we  can 
affirm  that  the  latter  will  not  grow.  And  it  is 
one  of  our  best  trees.  It  is  noted  for  its  dura- 
bility. Hence  it  has  been  in  great  request  for 
fence-poles,  for  hop-poles,  bean-poles,  and  the 
like,  and  for  railroad-ties.  It  is  also  a  fine- 
grained wood,  and  desirable  for  many  uses  in 
cabinet-making  and  house-building.  Its  color 
and  peculiar  fragrant  odor  add  much  to  its 
other  merits.  It  is  the  wood  of  which  our  lead- 
pencils  are  made,  and  is  in  request  for  the  con- 
struction of  chests  and  drawers,  as  its  odor  is 


So  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

supposed  to  be  a  safeguard  against  insects  inju- 
rious to  clothing. 

Our  stock  of  native  trees  is  so  large  that  we 
hardly  need  to  seek  any  from  abroad.  And  yet 
some  European  trees  of  similar  kinds  to  our  own 
are  found  to  be  of  better  quality  than  ours. 
Some  of  the  English  oaks,  elms,  and  birches  are 
better  for  some  purposes  than  ours  of  the  same 
name.  The  European  larch  is  better  than  the 
American,  and  is  to  be  preferred  for  planting 
here. 

Among  evergreens  the  Scotch  pine  {Pinus 
sylvestris)  has  been  noted  for  its  rapid  growth 
and  its  adaptation  to  almost  every  variety  of 
soil,  as  well  as  for  its  valuable  qualities  as  a  tim- 
ber-tree. It  is  a  favorite  tree  in  Europe.  It  has 
not  been  growing  with  us  for  a  sufficient  time  to 
warrant  a  decisive  opinion  as  to  its  merits.  It 
has  seemed  to  give  promise  of  being  a  valuable 
accession  to  our  list  of  trees.  Latterly,  however, 
there  has  come  up  some  distrust  of  it.  Trees 
which  had  previously  grown  well,  and  appeared 
vigorous,  on  reaching  the  age  of  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  have  seemed  speedily  to  lose  their 
vitality,  and   so   there   has   begun   to  be  doubt 


WHAT   TO  PLANT.  8l 

whether  this  will  become  a  desirable  timber-tree 
with  us.  The  fact  thus  noticed  may  be  the  re- 
sult of  peculiarity  of  situation.  It  needs  further 
time  and  investigation  to  determine.  It  may  be 
the  result  of  the  use  of  bad  seed.  The  true 
Scotch  pine,  a  native  of  the  cool  north,  does  not 
bear  seed  profusely.  But  there  is  a  degenerate 
pine  of  this  sort,  growing  in  France  and  the 
neighboring  countries,  which  seeds  freely.  On 
this  account,  the  seed  of  the  latter  is  most  abun- 
dant in  the  market,  and  the  inferior  tree  has  been 
widely  disseminated  as  the  result.  To  be  sure  of 
the  best  trees,  it  would  be  well  to  procure  seed 
from  a  better  source.  Seed  of  the  genuine  sort, 
or  trees,  may  be  obtained  without  difficulty  from 
Riga,  Russia,  a  source  from  which  it  will  be  ad- 
vantageous to  procure  many  kinds  of  trees  and 
seeds,  especially  for  use  upon  the  dry,  cold 
prairies  of  the  Northwest,  a  region  quite  akin  to 
some  portions  of  the  Russian  country.  Genuine 
seed  may  also  be  procured  from  some  of  our 
own  dealers.* 

The  "  Iowa  Forestry  Annual "  recommended, 

*  The  best  Scotch-pine  seed  is  that  known  as  Finns  sylvestris, 
variety  Rigensis. 


82  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

several  years  ago,  a  combination  of  the  Scotch 
pine  with  other  evergreens  for  shelter-belts,  and 
proposed  two  or  three  rows  of  white  pine  for 
the  center,  two  rows  of  Scotch  or  Austrian  pine 
on  each  side,  and  two  rows  of  red  cedar,  or  ar- 
bor-vitas, outside  of  these. 

We  have  thus  indicated  some  of  the  more 
desirable  trees  for  the  planter's  use,  our  design 
having  been  to  call  attention  to  those  which  are 
of  established  character  and  recognized  worth, 
and  such  as  are  likely  to  prove  successful  in 
the  hands  of  the  ordinary  planter.  We  have 
endeavored,  by  limiting  the  number  of  trees 
treated  of,  to  avoid  confusing  the  mind  of  any 
reader,  for  persons  confused  by  attention  to  too 
many  are  likely  in  the .  end  either  to  abandon 
planting  altogether,  or  to  make  such  a  choice  as 
will  leave  room  for  subsequent  regret.  It  is 
better  for  the  inexperienced  to  devote  their  at- 
tention to  a  few  of  the  various  kinds  of  trees 
than  to  undertake  at  once  to  plant  many  sorts. 
Their  work  is  thus  simplified,  and  for  this  reason 
will  be  more  wisely  and  thoroughly  performed 
than  where  the  culture  of  a  greater  variety  at 
the  same  time  is  undertaken.     When  experience 


WHAT  TO  PLANT.  83 

has  been  gained  in  this  way,  and  an  intelligent 
interest  in  trees  has  been  established,  the  planter 
may  properly,  as  he  will  be  likely  to  do,  add  to 
the  value  of  his  plantation,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  his  own  pleasure,  by  experimenting 
with  less  common  trees,  testing  their  value,  and 
adding  them  to  his  plantation  as  he  finds  them 
to  serve  his  purpose.  His  tree-planting,  which 
was  at  first,  perhaps,  a  stern  necessity,  and  en- 
tered upon  with  much  doubt  and  uncertainty, 
now  becomes  a  source  of  constant  enjoyment. 
The  trees  are  his  friends,  and  he  delights  to 
widen  his  circle  of  acquaintance  among  them 
continually.  And  he  may  widen  it  to  any  ex- 
tent. 


IV. 

HOW  TO  PLANT. 

This  is  the  most  practical  of  all  questions 
with  the  tree-planter.  He  may  feel  the  need  of 
trees,  he  may  be  full  of  craving  for  their  so- 
ciety, he  may  even  have  made  his  selection  of 
trees  and  decided  where  they  shall  be  placed ; 
but  all  may  come  to  naught,  all  will  come  to 
naught,  if  the  actual  planting  is  not  done  aright. 

The  first  requisite  for  a  successful  tree- 
planter  is  that  he  shall  recognize  the  fact  that 
trees  are  living  organisms.  To  plant  a  tree 
is  not  to  fix  a  post,  or  to  set  a  stone  in  place 
in  a  wall.  Yet  much  of  our  tree-planting  has 
been  done  with  as  little  adaptation  of  means 
to  ends  as  if  such  were  supposed  to  be  the 
work  in  hand.  Very  often  little  regard  has 
been  paid  to  the  condition  of  the  tree  in  itself, 
or  in  its  relation  to  the  soil  or  climate  of   the 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  85 

region  where  it  was  to  be  placed.  Then,  in  its 
committal  to  the  ground,  there  has  often  been 
the  least  possible  consideration  of  the  proper 
requisites  for  a  vigorous  and  successful  growth. 
The  work  has  been  intrusted  but  too  frequently 
to  persons  altogether  uninterested  in  its  suc- 
cess, and  ignorant  of  the  necessary  conditions 
of  growth.  A  hole  has  been  hastily  dug  in  the 
ground,  just  large  enough,  probably,  to  allow  the 
roots  of  the  tree  to  be  crowded  into  it,  the 
lumpy  earth  has  been  shoveled  back,  the  stamp 
of  a  boot-heel  given  to  it,  possibly  a  dash  of 
water  added,  and  the  work  has  been  considered 
complete,  and  the  tree  expected  to  grow  with- 
out further  attention.  If  failure  has  resulted, 
as  it  has  in  so  many  cases,  the  result  has  been 
attributed  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  season,  or  to 
any  other  but  the  true  cause,  the  ignorance  or 
carelessness  of  the  planter  or  both  together. 

Looking  upon  the  tree,  then,  as  a  living 
thing,  having  organs  of  delicate  sensibility  and 
special  functions,  common  sense  would  decide 
that  attention  should  be  given,  first,  to  the  place 
where  it  is  to  grow — that  is,  where  it  is  to  feed 

and  have  its  life  sustained.    The  character  and 
8 


86  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

condition  of  the  soil,  then,  are  first  to  be  taken 
into  account.  These  are  prerequisites  to  the 
thrifty  growth  of  a  tree,  such  a  growth  as  every 
planter  wishes  to  secure.  A  calf  or  a  colt  will 
live  and  possibly  make  some  growth  on  a  scanty 
pasturage  in  summer  or  on  straw-fodder  in  win- 
ter. It  will  barely  live.  But  no  successful 
stock-raiser,  no  one  worthy  to  be  considered  as 
a  stock-raiser,  feeds  his  animals  in  that  way.  So 
a  human  child  will  possibly  live  and  maintain 
a  feeble  existence  upon  slop  milk  or  when  the 
diet  is  defective  in  quality  and  insufficient  in 
quantity,  though  many  drop  off  and  die  from 
such  causes. 

Now,  the  soil  is  the  source  of  the  tree's  nour- 
ishment. The  roots  of  the  tree  are  its  mouths 
— or,  more  properly,  its  mouths  are  in  its  roots. 
What  we  call  the  roots  are,  in  part,  only  a  me- 
chanical contrivance  by  which  the  tree  is  held 
in  an  upright  position — a  brace,  so  to  speak. 
But  these  underground  arms  branch  off  into  fin- 
gers innumerable,  which  are  covered  with  hairs 
or  rootlets,  somewhat  as  our  own  fingers  are. 
In  these  are  the  mouths  of  the  tree,  so  small  as 
to  be  invisible.     It  is  clearly  impossible,  there- 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  87 

fore,  that  any  food  should  enter  these  mouths 
except  in  a  fluid  state,  either  liquid  or  gaseous. 

The  soil  ministers  to  the  life  of  the  tree 
planted  in  it,  only  as  the  plant-food  contained 
in  the  soil  is  dissolved,  so  that  it  can  be  ab- 
sorbed by  the  minute  mouths  of  the  roots. 
Hence  the  need  of  having  the  soil  reduced  to 
a  fine  condition,  having  it  "  pulverized,"  as  we 
say — that  is,  reduced  to  a  state  of  powder.  In 
proportion  as  the  soil  is  thus  made  fine,  more 
particles  of  plant-food  are  exposed  to  the  action 
of  the  water  and  gases,  which  are  ready  to  dis- 
solve them,  and  in  proportion  to  its  fineness 
are  the  dissolving  particles  brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  little  mouths  ready  to  take  the 
food  thus  prepared  for  them.  In  other  words, 
the  tree  needs  to  have  its  food  prepared  for  it 
in  soluble  form ;  and  to  this  end  the  soil  in 
which  it  is  to  stand  and  make  its  growth  must 
have  among  its  constituents  appropriate  plant- 
food,  and  must  be  put  into  such  a  mechanical 
condition  as  will  enable  the  tree  to  appropriate 
the  food  that  is  offered  it. 

The  farmer  or  gardener  does  not  expect  to 
have  a  crop  of  corn  or  wheat  unless  he  prop- 


88  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

erly  prepares  the  ground  beforehand,  or  chooses 
a  soil  already  stored  with  the  elements  of  plant- 
food,  and  then,  by  means  of  plows  and  harrows, 
brings  it  into  the  best  mechanical  condition  to 
supply  the  roots  of  the  corn  or  wheat  with 
their  food.  Why  should  he  be  any  less  careful 
in  regard  to  the  growth  of  his  trees,  those 
nobler  plants  ?  The  principles  in  which  success 
is  involved  are  the  same  in  both  cases.  There 
is  no  difference ;  only,  as  the  life  and  growth  of 
the  corn  or  wheat  are  limited  to  a  single  year, 
or  a  few  months  of  the  year,  whereas  the  tree 
is  to  reach  its  maturity  only  after  the  process 
of  growth  has  been  carried  on  for  scores,  per- 
haps for  centuries  of  years,  the  preliminary 
preparation  for  its  work  ought  to  be  undertaken 
with  the  greater  care. 

It  is  because  it  is  not  so  undertaken,  but 
oftentimes  less  care  is  given  to  the  planting  of 
an  oak  than  to  a  few  grains  of  corn,  that  half 
the  failures  in  tree-planting  occur.  Instead  of 
wondering  that  so  many  trees  after  being 
planted  never  put  out  a  green  leaf,  or  that, 
after  showing  some  feeble  signs  of  life,  they  die 
utterly  in  a  year  or  two,  the  wonder  should  be 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  89 

rather  that  so  many  live  at  all.  The  trees  treat 
us  better  than  we  treat  them.  They  more  than 
repay  us  for  our  care.  They  triumph  over 
difficulties  and  discouragements  astonishingly 
oftentimes.  Life  is  a  mighty  power  and  works 
miracles  almost.  But  we  can  not  expect  the 
trees  to  work  miracles  to  make  up  for  our 
negligence. 

Let  it  be  understood,  then,  by  every  planter, 
whether  he  be  the  owner  of  a  little  village  plot 
and  wishes  to  plant  but  a  single  tree  or  a  clump 
of  trees  in  his  door-yard  to  beautify  it,  or  is 
possessed  of  a  stretch  of  treeless  prairie  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  which  he  wishes  to  clothe  in 
part  with  trees  and  so  bring  it  into  a  pleasant 
and  comfortable  condition  for  human  occu- 
pancy, that  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  see 
that  his  ground  has  a  proper  supply  of  plant- 
food — though  in  most  cases  Nature  will  have 
provided  that — and  that  the  soil  is  so  triturated 
and  mellowed  that  his  trees  can  easily  take 
their  food  into  their  mouths.  This  is  the  most 
essential  thing. 

Neglect  at  this  point  is  at  the  expense  of 
further  growth  and  ultimate  success  and  satis- 


9©  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

faction.  Neglect  here  in  order  to  secure  a 
speedy  planting  will  furnish  another  illustration 
of  the  truth  of  the  proverb,  "  Haste  makes 
waste."  The  planter  on  the  prairie  which  has 
never  been  broken  may,  perhaps,  venture  to 
plant  his  corn  or  sow  his  wheat  upon  the 
freshly-turned  sod  without  further  care,  and 
those  plants  of  a  season  will  give  him  a  suffi- 
cient return  for  his  labor,  for  there  will  be 
enough  pulverized  soil  to  meet  the  demands  of 
their  short  life.  But  if  he  is  about  to  grow  a 
crop  of  trees,  how  inadequate  does  such  treat- 
ment appear  to  any  intelligent  mind !  It  is  only 
a  waste  of  time  and  ground.  Let  him  rather 
hasten  slowly.  Let  him  plant  no  more  trees 
in  any  given  year  than  he  can  plant  properly 
and  well.  A  hundred  trees  so  planted  will  be 
worth  more  to  him  than  a  thousand  thrust  into 
ground  not  suitably  prepared. 

Let  him  break  up  his  ground  in  the  spring 
or  early  summer — that  is,  at  the  customary  time 
— and  in  the  autumn  cross-plow  it  or  turn  it 
again,  sinking  his  plow  as  deep  as  he  can.  The 
next  spring  let  him  plow  again,  and  go  over 
the  ground  with  the  harrow,  lightening  the  labor 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  91 

with  the  thought  that  he  is  doing  a  work  not 
only  for  the  present  year,  but  for  ten,  twenty, 
it  may  be  fifty  years  to  come.  To  secure  a 
more  complete  preparation  of  the  ground  for 
his  tree-crop,  let  him  for  a  year  plant  it  with 
potatoes  or  some  seed  which  will  call  for  the 
use  of  the  hoe  or  cultivator,  and  thus  kill  off 
the  weeds  which  otherwise  might  kill  his  trees 
by  taking  their  food  from  them.  Now  he  may 
plant  his  trees,  though  there  will  be  no  loss  if 
he  waits  still  another  year  and  works  the  ground 
yet  more  thoroughly  with  another  temporary 
crop.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  he  will  proba- 
bly see  in  the  stalwart  growth  of  his  trees 
that  his  seeming  delay  was  really  the  best  has- 
tening. 

Meanwhile,  with  his  first  breaking  of  the 
ground,  if  he  expects  to  grow  his  trees  from 
the  seed,  he  should  have  procured  the  seeds 
and  planted  them  in  a  nicely  pulverized  seed- 
bed, where  the  young  trees  can  be  watched  and 
kept  free  from  weeds  in  their  tender  infancy. 
If  he  transplants  them  from  one  seed-bed  to 
another  at  the  end  of  their  first  year's  growth, 
and  plants  them  where  they  are  to  stand  finally 


92  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

only  after  they  have  grown  another  year  in 
the  seed-bed,  it  will  be  all  the  better.  They 
will  have  multiplied  their  roots  so  as  to  be 
able  to  take  hold  of  the  soil  of  their  permanent 
home  with  the  greater  vigor  and  assimilating 
power,  and  will  make  a  more  rapid  and  sturdy 
growth. 

By  planting  seeds  in  the  seed-bed  or  nursery 
at  the  same  time  that  the  field  is  taken  in 
hand  to  be  made  ready  for  the  ultimate  plant- 
ing, the  trees  will  be  getting  ready  to  be  plant- 
ed while  the  ground  is  being  prepared  by 
thorough  cultivation  to  receive  them  and  give 
them  a  good  send-off,  so  that  no  time  will  have 
been  lost. 

But  the  question  comes  in  here,  whether  it 
is  better  for  one  to  plant  the  seeds  of  trees,  or 
to  procure  trees  for  planting  from  those  who 
make  it  their  business  to  raise  them  for  sale. 

Of  course,  if  one  is  about  to  plant  only  a 
few  trees,  he  will  hardly  hesitate  about  pur- 
chasing them,  rather  than  be  at  the  trouble 
of  raising  them  from  the  seed.  But  the  ques- 
tion respects  chiefly  those  who  may  be  propos- 
ing to  plant  on  the  large  scale,  as,  for  instance, 


HOW   TO  PLANT.  93 

shelter-belts  about  their  farms,  or  to  comply 
with  the  terms  of  the  Government  timber-act. 
For  such  even,  unless  they  have  had  consider- 
able experience  in  raising  trees  from  seeds,  it 
will  be  policy  to  procure  trees  rather  than  to 
sow  seeds.  The  practiced  planter,  if  he  has  the 
time  and  facilities  for  doing  it,  and  if  he  also 
enjoys  this  part  of  the  work,  may  begin  his 
plantation  at  the  seed-bed,  or  by  gathering  his 
seeds  where  Nature  has  produced  them,  or  from 
the  dealer  who  offers  them  for  sale.  But  one 
who  has  had  little  or  no  experience  will  ordi- 
narily do  best  by  purchasing  trees  rather  than 
by  planting  seeds. 

Time  and  trouble  are  involved  in  gathering 
seeds ;  and,  if  they  are  purchased,  there  is  the 
risk  that  they  may  not  be  in  proper  condition 
to  germinate,  or  may  not  prove  true  to  name. 
And  then  there  is  a  great  deal  of  care  demanded 
in  the  seed-bed.  There  are  weeding  and  shad- 
ing and  protection.  The  young  pine,  though  it 
may  be  a  giant  by-and-by  and  bid  defiance  to 
sun  and  storm,  is  at  first  a  very  tender  and 
delicate  plant.  There  is  hardly  one  in  the 
lady's  flower-garden  more  so.     It  needs  to   be 


94  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

shaded  from  the  sun,  and  to  be  supplied  with 
moisture  in  proper  measure.  So  of  other  trees. 
They  require  much  fostering  care  to  bring  them 
forward  from  the  seed  to  a  condition  for  suc- 
cessful growth  in  the  field  or  forest.  The  pro- 
fessional tree-grower  or  nursery-man  can  give 
this  care,  for  that  is  his  business,  and  there  is 
nothing  to  interfere  with  it.  Prosecuting  the 
business  also  on  a  large  scale,  he  can  not  only 
grow  trees  more  successfully  but  more  cheaply 
than  others.  On  all  accounts,  therefore,  it  will 
usually  be  best  for  the  one  about  to  plant  a 
grove  or  a  forest  to  purchase  trees  rather  than 
to  plant  seeds. 

But,  if  one  is  resolved  to  raise  his  trees  from 
the  seed,  there  are  some  considerations  to  be 
offered  which  may  be  of  service  to  him.  If  he 
does  not  go  to  the  dealer  and  purchase  his 
seed,  when  shall  he  gather  and  when  shall  he 
plant  it? 

Nature,  here  as  elsewhere,  is  our  great 
teacher.  She  never  makes  a  mistake.  She 
plants  her  seeds  when  they  are  ripe.  When  they 
have  arrived  at  maturity,  when  they  are  so 
perfected  that  they  are  in  a  condition  to  repro 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  95 

duce  their  kind,  thus  fulfilling  the  law  of  crea- 
tion, under  which  the  herb  and  the  tree  were 
ordained  to  yield  seed  each  "after  its  kind," 
they  are  dropped  upon  the  ground  by  the  par- 
ent tree,  and  there  find  the  conditions  of  shel- 
ter and  moisture  which  enable  them  to  germi- 
nate. Our  lesson,  then,  is  before  us.  We 
should  gather  the  tree-seeds  when  they  are 
ripe. 

This,  also,  is  the  appropriate  time  for  plant- 
ing them.  It  may  not  be  convenient  for  us, 
however,  to  plant  them  at  once.  When,  for 
any  reason,  the  seeds  can  not  be  planted  at  the 
time  of  ripening,  common  sense  would  indicate 
that  they  should  be  kept,  if  possible,  in  such  a 
condition  that  their  power  of  germination  will 
not  be  impaired.  This  is  sometimes  a  difficult 
matter,  owing  to  the  different  characters  of 
seeds.  The  late  Dr.  John  A.  Warder,  of  Ohio, 
to  whom  the  country  is  as  much  indebted  as 
to  any  one  for  the  interest  which  has  been 
aroused  in  recent  years  in  favor  of  forest  tree- 
planting,  has  treated  the  subject  of  gathering, 
preserving,  and  planting  seeds  so  well,  in  a 
paper  prepared  by  him  for  the  Minnesota  State 


g6  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

Forestry  Association,  that  we  feel  that  we  can 
not  do  better  than  to  draw  very  liberally  from 
it  for  the  benefit  of  our  readers. 

For  convenience  of  treatment,  Dr.  Warder 
divides  seeds  into  five  classes:  i.  Soft  seeds. 
2.  Berries  and  pulpy  seeds.  3.  Nuts  and  acorns. 
4.  Hard  seeds.  5.  Coniferous  seeds.  "All 
seeds,"  he  says,  "  are  best  gathered  as  soon  as 
they  are  ripe,  or  even  a  little  before  their  per- 
fect maturity." 

Class  I. — Soft  Seeds. 

"  When  any  of  these  kinds  stand  over  a  pave- 
ment or  smooth  and  clean  piece  of  ground, 
they  may  be  allowed  to  perfect  their  ripening 
upon  the  trees,  as  the  fallen  seeds  can  be  swept 
up  and  gathered — for  it  will  not  pay  to  pick 
them  up  singly. 

"  The  white  maple,  in  its  favorite  habitat 
near  water,  may  be  allowed  to  shed  its  seeds, 
which  float  in  the  stream  and  are  collected  in 
the  eddies,  and  may  be  drawn  out  with  a  rake, 
to  be  dried  and  planted  immediately.  These 
maple  seeds  are  ready  for  germination  as  soon 


HOW   TO  PLANT.  97 

as  they  ripen,  and  indeed  they  are  already 
young  plants,  as  may  be  seen  by  breaking 
them  open ;  hence  the  difficulty  of  preserving 
and  transporting  them.  Once  thoroughly  dry 
them,  and  their  vitality  is  lost. 

"  The  elms,  with  a  single  exception,  are  also 
early  summer  fruits,  ripening  in  some  cases 
before  the  expansion  of  the  leaves.  This,  how- 
ever, is  an  advantage  to  the  seed-gatherers, 
who  can  strip  them  from  the  limbs  just  as  the 
winged  seeds  begin  to  turn  brown  and  are 
ready  to  fall.  The  seeds  of  the  elms  are  less 
impatient  than  the  maples,  and  retain  their  vi- 
tality sufficiently  to  admit  of  transportation  to 
a  distance,  but  it  is  better  to  commit  them  to 
the  soil  as  soon  as  possible. 

"Poplars  and  willows  also  blossom  in  the 
early  spring,  and  ripen  their  seeds  before  the 
summer  heats.  Their  seeds  are  produced  in 
elongated  catkins.  They  must  be  harvested 
from  the  trees.  This  is  done  just  as  the  catkin 
begins  to  burst  open  in  ripening.  The  minute 
seeds  should  be  sown  at  once  on  a  finely-pre- 
pared  seed-bed   and   very    lightly    covered  by 

sifting  fine  soil  over  them,  and  then  firming  the 
9 


98  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

surface  with  a  board  or  the  back  of  the  spade, 
or  with  a  Hght  roller. 

"  Birches  and  alders  have  small  and  winged 
seeds  that  are  also  produced  in  catkins.  They 
blossom  very  early  and  ripen  their  fruit  usually 
in  the  autumn,  when  they  should  be  collected 
and  laid  away  to  ripen  and  shed  out.  These 
may  be  sowed  in  beds  at  once,  or  they  may 
be  kept  over  winter  in  a  suitable  seed-room, 
where,  after  sufficient  drying,  they  should  be 
kept  covered  from  the  air. 

"  Mulching  will  be  found  serviceable  with 
all  these  small  seeds  that  are  sowed  in  summer. 
Freshly-mown  grass,  short  broken  straw,  or 
autumn  leaves,  will  do  if  spread  so  lightly  as 
to  let  the  sunshine  through  the  material. 

"  Some  other  seeds  are  endowed  with  great- 
er vitality,  and  may  be  kept  for  a  longer  time 
out  of  the  ground.  The  different  species  of  the 
ash  have  seeds  that  belong  to  this  class,  and 
some  of  them,  if  kept  dry  during  the  winter, 
will  not  vegetate  until  the  second  year.  It  is 
better  to  sow  these  in  drills  in  the  autumn, 
or  to  winter  the  seeds  out-of-doors  by  throw- 
ing them  upon  a  hard  surface,  such  as  a  gar- 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  99 

den-walk,  and  covering  them  with  some  loose 
boards  or  an  inverted  box,  or  they  may  be 
mixed  with  an  equal  bulk  of  damp  sand  and 
kept  in  a  cool  room  under  shelter ;  but  do  not 
allow  them  to  become  too  dry." 

Class  II. — Pulpy-fruited  Seeds. 

"  The  seeds  of  berry  and  pulpy-fruited  plants 
need  especial  treatment.  Thus,  mulberries, 
elders,  currants,  and  other  fruits  with  small 
seeds  imbedded  in  pulpy  matter,  need  to  be 
macerated  in  water  and  washed,  then  dried, 
when  they  may  be  preserv^ed. 

"  Peaches,  plums,  and  cherries  should  have 
the  pulp  separated  from  the  stones,  and  these, 
when  dried,  may  be  stored  or  transported  at 
any  time,  but  their  germination  is  much  aided 
by  exposure  to  the  frosts  of  winter.  The 
larger  may  be  thrown  upon  the  ground  and 
lightly  covered  with  earth.  The  smaller  seeds 
may  be  mixed  with  sand  and  exposed  to  frost 
and  moisture  in  the  vessels  containing  them, 
and  should  be  planted  early  in  the  spring." 


lOO  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

Class  III. — Nuts  and  Acorns. 

"  These  should  be  gathered  as  soon  as  they 
fall,  separated  from  their  hulls  or  cups,  and 
partially  dried,  if  to  be  stored. 

"  Most  of  the  oaks,  and  notably  the  chest- 
nuts, need  to  be  gathered  as  soon  as  they  fall, 
and  then  partially  dried,  as  they  are  prone  to 
germinate  immediately  on  the  damp  earth,  and 
their  tender  radicles  are  easily  broken  off  in 
handling.  It  is  best,  therefore,  to  mix  these 
seeds  with  moderately  damp  sand  so  soon  as 
gathered,  and  keep  them  in  the  coolest  temper- 
ature and  under  cover.  Better  still,  however, 
where  practicable,  to  plant  them  in  the  drills 
as  soon  as  convenient  after  they  are  procured. 

"  Walnuts  and  hickories  are  easily  managed, 
and  may  be  preserved  in  good  condition  if  kept 
dry  and  cool ;  but,  if  too  warm,  these  oily  seeds 
are  liable  to  become  rancid,  when  their  vitality 
will  be  destroyed." 

Class  IV. — Hard  Seeds  and  Refractory. 

"  Some  seeds  are  so  indurated,  or  so  closely 
and  carefully  incased,  that  their  vitality  is  pre- 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  10 1 

served  from  injury  for  years,  even  under  ex- 
posure to  the  elements.  Of  these  the  common 
black  or  yellow  locust  gives  an  example.  The 
seeds  of  this  tree  ma}'-  be  gathered  at  any  time 
during  the  first  half  of  winter,  and  can  be  kept 
almost  indefinitely,  but  they  require  preparation 
before  planting.  This  is  usually  done  by  scald- 
ing and  soaking.  The  swollen  beans  are  to  be 
separated  with  a  sieve  and  at  once  committed 
to  the  soil.  The  scalding  process  may  need  to 
be  repeated  several  times  before  all  the  seeds 
become  swollen." 

Class  V. — Conifers, 

"  Pines,  spruces,  firs,  and  such  trees,  ripen 
their  fruits  successively,  and  each  must  be 
gathered  in  its  season,  from  the  trees.  This 
must  be  done  before  the  scales  of  the  cones 
begin  to  gape  and  shed  the  naked  or  winged 
seeds.  Many  of  these  species  require  a  con- 
siderable time  to  mature,  and  some  need  the 
aid  of  artificial  heat  to  make  them  gape  and 
shed  their  seeds.  When  separated  from  their 
cones,  many  of  these  seeds  can  be  safely  kept 
by   preserving   a   regular   and    moderate    tem- 


I02  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

perature  in  the  seed-room.  The  bags,  boxes, 
or  drawers  should  be  closed,  so  as  to  avoid 
too  free  an  exposure  to  the  atmosphere  and 
humidity." 

Cuttings. 

There  is  one  method  of  propagating  trees 
of  which  we  have  as  yet  said  nothing,  that  is 
by  cuttings.  Many  trees  are  so  easily  propa- 
gated in  this  way,  that  it  has  been  adopted 
quite  extensively.  It  consists,  as  most  know, 
in  inserting  in  the  ground  pieces  of  well-grown 
wood  nearly  to  the  extent  of  their  whole  length, 
leaving  only  one  or  two  joints  or  buds  above- 
ground.  Most  persons  are  aware  that  the  wil- 
lows, treated  in  this  way,  readily  push  out 
roots  and  grow.  But  so  will  the  cottonwoods, 
the  box-elder,  the  maples,  the  sycamore,  and 
many  others.  Prof.  Budd,  of  Iowa,  one  of 
our  best  authorities  upon  trees  and  tree-cult- 
ure, speaks  thus  in  regard  to  the  treatment 
of  cuttings :  "  They  should  be  cut  early  in 
winter,  before  severe  freezing,  in  lengths  of 
about  one  foot.  They  should  be  chosen  from 
three  fourths  of  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half 


HO  IF  TO  PLANT,  103 

in  diameter,  and  the  lower  end  with  a  clean 
cut,  without  bruising  or  mashing.  Of  maples, 
the  two-year-old  wood  is  best ;  of  the  other 
kinds  it  makes  but  little  difference,  if  the 
growth  is  free  and  healthy.  Tie  in  bundles 
with  willows,  the  lower  end  nicely  evened,  so 
that  when  placed  on  the  ground  in  spring 
every  piece  will  touch  the  moist  earth.  Pack 
the  bundles  in  a  dry-goods  box  with  moist 
prairie  soil,  putting  the  box  where  it  will  not 
get  too  dry  or  wet,  and  will  not  freeze.  With 
the  first  warm  weather  of  spring,  clean  off  a 
spot  under  an  old  hay-stack,  level  the  surface 
carefully,  and  set  the  bundles,  butt-end  down, 
closely  together,  upon  the  fresh,  moist  earth, 
then  cover  them  with  straw  so  as  to  keep 
them  from  the  air.  By  the  time  the  ground 
gets  warm  enough  to  plant,  the  base  of  the 
cuttings  will  be  softened,  and  most  of  them 
will  have  small  roots." 


Process  of  Planting, 

We  have  already  said  enough,  perhaps,  con- 
cerning  the  roots  of  trees  and   their  functions 


I04  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

to  make  any  further  remarks  about  the  pro- 
cess of  planting  imnecessary.  And  yet  mis- 
takes are  so  often  made  in  regard  to  this 
matter,  and  failure  and  disappointment  are  so 
often  entailed  as  the  consequence,  that  a  few 
words  still  may  not  be  superfluous. 

If,  as  we  have  said,  the  roots  contain  the 
mouths  of  the  trees,  the  organs  by  which 
they  take  in  their  nourishment  and  secure 
their  growth,  then  the  more  widely  these 
mouths  are  diffused  through  the  ground,  and 
the  more  intimately  they  are  brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  soil  and  the  plant-food  which  it 
contains,  the  more  certain  and  vigorous  will 
be  their  growth.  Hence  the  need,  already  inti- 
mated, that  the  ground  should  be  mellow  and 
minutely  subdivided,  so  that  the  trees  may 
easily  push  out  their  rootlets  to  the  utmost 
extent,  and  that  the  soil  may  be  brought  into 
closest  contact  with  them. 

This  indicates  the  course  to  be  pursued  at 
the  time  of  planting.  It  is  not  enough  that  a 
hole  be  made  of  barely  sufficient  size  to  admit 
the  roots  of  the  tree  as  they  then  are,  very 
likely    diminished    from    their   natural   amount 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  105 

because  a  portion  of  them — and  that  the  most 
important  portion — has  been  cut  off  by  the 
spade  in  the  act  of  taking  the  tree  from  its  for- 
mer place  of  growth.  The  excavation  should 
be  ample,  and  the  ground  around  so  soft  and 
permeable  that  as  new  roots  are  made  they 
may  be  able  to  push  out  in  every  direction. 
The  roots,  as  they  are  at  the  time  of  planting, 
should  not  be  thrust  in  at  hap-hazard,  but 
should  be  spread  well  asunder,  and  the  earth 
should  be  carefully  pressed  into  the  interstices 
and  firmed  around  the  small  fibers,  remember- 
ing that  the  feeding  mouths  of  the  tree  are 
upon  them  rather  than  upon  the  bulky  roots, 
which  are  more  buttresses  for  keeping  the 
tree  in  place  than  feeding  organs. 

To  secure  this  proper  planting,  the  planter 
should  select  a  time  for  his  work  when  the 
ground  is  neither  too  dry  and  hard,  nor  too 
wet  and  pasty — the  one  state  being  about  as 
bad  as  the  other — but  a  time  when  the  earth 
will  work  readily  under  the  spade  and  the 
hand.  After  covering  the  roots  properly,  as 
we  have  described,  he  should  fill  the  space  left 
above   them,   an   inch   or   two   in   depth,  with 


lo6  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

fine  but  loose  earth,  in  order  that  the  air  and 
moisture  may  have  ready  access  to  the  roots; 
then,  finally,  cover  the  surface  with  a  mulch  of 
some  sort — leaves,  straw,  tan-bark,  chip-dirt,  or 
the  like — for  the  purpose  of  screening  it  from 
the  sun  and  wind,  which  would  rob  the  roots 
of  their  appropriate  moisture  by  the  rapid 
evaporation  which  the  former  would  occasion. 

If  the  ground  is  in  proper  condition,  it 
will  seldom  be  necessary  to  apply  water  to 
the  trees  when  planting  them.  The  nursery- 
men make  little  use  of  water  at  such  time. 
To  have  the  earth  fine  and  simply  moist,  and 
to  have  it  brought  into  close  contact  with  the 
fibrous  roots,  is  the  important  matter.  A  dash 
of  water,  as  the  earth  is  being  packed  around 
the  roots,  may  assist,  but  unless  care  is  used 
the  water  may  do  more  harm  than  good. 

Some  may  say  this  is  an  ideal  method  of 
tree-planting,  one  that  can  not  be  carried  out 
in  practice,  or  only  in  special  cases  and  where 
but  a  few  trees  are  to  be  planted.  It  may 
be  that  the  forest-planter  can  not  take  all  the 
pains  with  his  work  that  we  have  indicated  as 
desirable.     But  let  him   hold   this  ideal  plant- 


HOW   TO  PLANT.  107 

ing  in  mind,  and  come  as  near  realizing  it  as 
he  can.  On  the  lawn,  in  the  door-yard,  in  the 
garden  or  orchard,  by  the  road-side,  this  ideal 
should  always  be  reached.  On  the  prairie,  or 
where  one  is  planting  a  forest  of  acres  in  ex- 
tent, let  him  do  the  best  possible.  He  can  at 
least  have  his  ground  in  good  condition.  He 
has  no  excuse  if  he  does  not.  And  though  he 
may  feel  that  the  work  of  planting,  when  done 
on  the  large  scale,  must  be  done  rapidly,  it 
need  not  be  done  carelessly.  With  the  aid 
of  children's  fingers,  the  trees  being  small,  as 
in  forest-planting  they  usually  will  be,  he  can 
come  reasonably  near  to  the  proper  standard 
of  tree-planting. 

After-Carc. 

But,  having  planted  ever  so  carefully  and 
well,  the  growth  of  the  trees  is  not  yet  secured. 
They  need  to  be  watched  afterward  and  guarded 
from  injury.  The  one  who  plants  a  single  tree 
or  a  few  trees  near  his  dwelling,  to  beautify 
his  home  and  make  it  more  pleasant,  more 
home-like,  will  hardly  fail  to  watch  them  and 
see  that  nothing   interferes  with  their  welfare. 


Io8  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

He  will  guard  and  protect  them  in  every  need- 
ful way.  But  the  one  who  plants  on  the  larger 
scale,  the  one  who  is  planting  a  grove  or  a 
wind-break  covering  acres  in  extent,  the  one 
who  is  undertaking  to  secure  his  timber-claim 
on  the  prairie,  is  in  danger  of  neglecting  his 
trees  after  having  planted  them,  and  of  suffer- 
ing loss  in  consequence,  perhaps  of  finding  his 
tree-planting  almost,  if  not  quite,  a  failure.  He 
is  likely  to  be  a  farmer,  occupied  with  other 
crops  as  well  as  with  his  trees.  He  may  not 
be,  probably  is  not,  a  capitalist,  with  the  means 
of  employing  all  the  help  he  needs.  He  is 
struggling,  it  may  be,  with  the  hardships  inci- 
dent to  a  new  settlement,  and  is  carving  out 
his  future  with  his  own  hands.  Pressed  with 
the  other  and  ordinary  cares  of  his  farm,  and 
knowing  that  the  trees  are  not  to  make  imme- 
diate returns  of  value,  like  the  corn,  he  will  be 
very  likely  to  leave  them  to  themselves,  and  to 
think  that,  as  they  have  been  planted,  they  will 
of  course  grow.  The  consequence  is,  that  weeds 
spring  up  among  them  and  rob  them  of  their 
needed  nourishment,  or  they  wither  for  lack  of 
protection  from  the  sun  and  wind. 


HO  IV   TO  PLANT.  109 

In  multitudes  of  instances  the  want  of  proper 
care  after  planting  has  blasted  the  planter's 
hopes.  Sometimes  this  neglect  is  the  result  of 
simple  ignorance.  The  planter  knows  little 
about  trees.  So  far  as  he  has  seen  them,  in 
forests  or  in  orchards,  he  has  seen  them  left  to 
themselves,  growing  without  having  any  care 
or  culture  bestowed  upon  them,  and  he  thinks 
he  may  treat  his  trees  in  the  same  way.  But 
after-care  is  as  important  as  proper  planting, 
especially  in  the  case  of  young  and  tender 
trees,  such  as  are  commonly  used  in  extensive 
planting.  The  tree-planter  should  consider  it 
as  important  to  go  between  the  rows  of  trees, 
from  time  to  time,  with  the  hoe  or  the  culti- 
vator, as  to  go  between  the  rows  of  corn.  It 
is  important,  for  precisely  the  same  reason,  to 
keep  down  the  weeds  and  grass  and  to  stir  and 
open  the  soil  so  that  the  air,  the  rain,  and  dew 
may  readily  penetrate  it.  After  giving  the 
trees  such  care  for  two  or  three  years,  they 
will  have  thrown  out  branches  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  shade  the  ground  sufficiently  to 
suppress  the  growth  of  weeds,  and  thenceforth 
they  will  take  care  of  themselves,  except  that 

lO  ^ 


no  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

they  must  be  protected  from  the  incursion 
among  them  of  cattle  and  other  animals  which 
might  trample  them  down  or  feed  upon  them. 


How  far  apart  to  be  planted. 

It  is  a  question  of  much  importance  at  what 
distance  apart  from  each  other  trees  should  be 
planted.  While  within  the  seed-bed,  they  may 
be  planted  within  a  few  inches  of  each  other 
and  in  rows  just  sufficiently  far  apart  to  allow 
the  ground  to  be  worked  so  as  to  keep  down 
weeds.  When  they  have  attained  a  height  of 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches,  they  will  need 
to  be  transplanted  and  to  have  more  room. 
When  transferred  to  the  nursery,  they  should 
not  be  placed  nearer  to  each  other  than  six 
inches  for  those  kinds  of  trees  that  have  a 
slender  form.  Those  of  a  more  spreading  habit 
may  be  set  at  the  distance  of  a  foot;  and  the 
evergreens,  which  throw  out  branches  near  the 
ground,  may  be  placed  eighteen  or  twenty 
inches  from  each  other. 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
the   distance   from   each  other  at   which   trees 


HO IV   TO  PLANT.  Ill 

should  be  set  in  the  final  planting  in  the  field. 
The  timber-culture  act  of  Congress  was  found, 
in  practice,  to  be  defective,  because  it  allowed 
trees  to  be  planted  at  a  distance  of  twelve  feet 
from  each  other.  Practical  experience  teaches 
that  they  should  be  planted  much  closer  than 
this,  and  there  is  now  a  very  general  concur- 
rence of  opinion  that  the  best  results  are  ob- 
tained when  trees,  for  forest  purposes,  are 
planted  not  more  than  four  feet  from  each 
other,  and  in  rows  four  feet  apart.  Some 
would  plant  even  closer  than  this.  If  planted 
at  a  greater  distance,  the  trees,  when  young 
and  tender,  are  very  likely  to  be  injured  by 
sweeping  winds,  especially  in  the  prairie  re- 
gions. They  are  also  more  exposed  to  the  with- 
ering effect  of  the  hot  sun,  and  are  liable  to 
have  the  soil  parched  and  deprived  of  its  moist- 
ure by  excessive  evaporation,  whereas,  if  plant- 
ed closely,  they  afford  mutual  support,  shading 
the  ground  so  that  its  moisture  is  retained, 
while  at  the  same  time  weeds  are  prevented 
from  growing. 

Moreover,  this  is  Nature's  mode  of  planting. 
When    cattle   and   other  injurious  animals   are 


112  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

excluded  from  our  native  forests,  we  see  the 
young  trees  spring  up  thickly  and  grow  in 
close  order,  and,  instead  of  spreading  out  their 
limbs  to  a  great  extent  near  the  ground,  the 
tendency  is  to  shoot  upward,  making  tall  trunks, 
the  lower  branches  gradually  withering  and 
dropping  off.  So  we  are  told  that  in  the  for- 
ests of  Oregon  and  Washington  Territory  the 
great  trees  often  stand  so  close  together  that  a 
principal  difficulty  in  converting  them  into  lum- 
ber is  to  find  vacant  space  enough  to  allow  their 
fall  to  the  ground  when  cut.  Of  course,  these 
giants  of  the  wood,  which  have  been  growing 
during  one  or  even  two  hundred  years,  do 
not  stand  within  four  or,  perhaps,  twenty  feet 
of  each  other.  Nor  is  it  meant,  when  we  speak 
of  planting  trees  so  close  together,  that  they 
are  to  preserve  that  closeness  for  a  great  length 
of  time.  After  a  few  years  they  will  begin  to 
crowd  each  other  and  interfere  with  one  an- 
other. Then  a  thinning  process  must  be  com- 
menced. At  first  one  fourth  may  be  removed ; 
after  a  few  years  more,  another  fourth.  The 
general  statement  may  be  made  that  one  half 
of  the   trees  should   be   removed   before   they 


BOW   TO  PLANT.  113 

have  attained  a  height  of  twenty  feet.  The 
trees  thus  removed  from  time  to  time  will  be 
valuable  for  hoop-poles,  vine-stakes,  fence-poles, 
and  for  many  other  uses.  The  remaining  trees 
will  now  have  room  enough  in  which  to  grow 
for  another  term  of  years,  when  a  further  thin- 
ning should  take  place.  When  the  trees  have 
reached  an  average  height  of  thirty  feet,  not 
more  than  eight  hundred  should  be  left  on  an 
acre ;  and,  when  forty  feet,  not  more  than  three 
hundred  or  three  hundred  and  fifty  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions  of  soil  and  exposure. 
Then  the  trees  may  be  left  to  themselves,  only 
removing  from  time  to  time  the  dead  or  decay- 
ing ones.  As  the  successive  thinnings  take 
place,  the  trees  which  are  removed  will  be 
more  and  more  valuable  for  lumber  on  account 
of  their  constantly  increasing  size. 

It  is  usual  also  with  the  most  experienced 
tree-culturists,  in  view  of  the  anticipated  thin- 
nings, to  plant  various  kinds  of  trees  together 
— planting,  for  example,  oaks,  if  the  design  is  to 
have  the  final  forest  mainly  of  this  tree,  sixteen 
or  twenty  feet  apart,  and  filling  in  the  inter- 
mediate spaces  with  other  trees,  such  as  the 


114  HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

ash,  the  larch,  the  pines,  or  other  trees  which 
grow  to  maturity  or  to  a  valuable  size  sooner 
than  the  oak,  and  may  be  economically  used  at 
an  earlier  period. 

It  is  found  also  that  a  better  forest-growth 
can  be  obtained  when  different  kinds  of  trees 
are  planted  together  than  when  a  plantation  is 
made  of  one  kind  exclusively.  This  may  be 
because  the  different  kinds  of  trees  appropriate 
for  their  nutriment  different  elements  of  the 
soil,  or  because  some  have  their  roots  near  the 
surface,  as  the  beech  and  the  hemlock,  while 
others,  like  the  oak,  send  theirs  downward,  and 
so  they  feed  at  different  depths,  and  do  not 
interfere  with  or  limit  each  other's  pasture. 

The  appearance  of  a  grove  or  forest  is  cer- 
tainly more  pleasing  when  several  kinds  of 
trees  are  planted  together.  However  satisfac- 
tory in  look  a  single  tree  may  be,  or  a  few  of 
the  same  kind,  when  we  meet  it  in  masses  to 
the  exclusion  of  others  it  becomes  less  pleasing 
and  may  even  become  unwelcome.  The  mind 
craves  variety.  So  we  never  tire  of  our  native 
forests,  because  they  are  usually  made  up  of 
many  kinds  of  trees.     We  do  not  plant  a  sin- 


/fOlF  TO  PLANT.  115 

gle  kind  of  tree,  to  the  exclusion  of  others, 
around  our  dwellings.  We  do  not  on  the  lawn ; 
why  should  we,  when  planting  on  the  larger 
scale?  Although  our  chief  aim  may  be  to 
secure  trees  for  practical  use,  for  shelter-belts 
or  for  timber  or  fuel,  there  is  no  reason  why 
we  should  not  combine  beauty  with  utility. 
We  may  make  a  belt  of  trees  or  a  forest  beau- 
tiful, and  more  beautiful  than  it  would  be  oth- 
erwise, not  only  by  our  choice  of  trees,  but  by 
our  method  of  disposing  of  them  in  planting. 


Avoid  Checker-Board  Style. 

And  we  are  inclined  to  emphasize  this  sug- 
gestion, in  reference  to  the  West,  and  especially 
to  the  prairie  region,  where  there  is  so  much 
planting  to  be  done.  There  nearly  all  the 
roads  and  farm  boundaries  run  in  straight 
lines,  according  to  the  Government  surveys,  and 
as  the  result  of  those  surveys.  This  is  very 
convenient  for  some  purposes,  but  it  is  any- 
thing but  favorable  to  aesthetic  or  landscape 
effect.  It  makes  a  great  checker-board  of  the 
western  portion  of  our  country.     It  gives  it  a 


Il6  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

stiff  and  far  less  pleasing  appearance  than  the 
older  portions,  with  their  winding  roads  and 
fields  of  varying  and  irregular  forms.  When 
you  have  seen  the  shape  of  one  farm  you  have 
seen  the  shape  of  all.  And  there  is  danger 
that,  as  the  tree-planter  undertakes  his  work, 
especially  in  those  parts  of  the  country  most 
destitute  of  trees,  he  will  increase  this  checker- 
board, this  artificial  appearance,  by  planting  his 
trees  in  straight  lines  along  the  boundary  of 
his  farm  on  one  or  more  sides.  This  he  will 
be  apt  to  do  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a  shel- 
ter-belt, as  it  is  called,  to  screen  himself,  his 
crops,  and  his  stock  from  hurtful  winds,  while 
he  hopes  also  to  derive  from  it  in  due  time  a 
sufficiency  of  lumber  and  fuel.  It  is  also  the 
easiest,  because  the  simplest  way  of  planting. 
His  lines  are  all  set  for  him.  But  if  he  follows 
this  course  he  will  find,  when  his  belt  of  trees 
have  grown,  that  he  has  shut  himself  in,  im- 
prisoned himself,  so  to  speak,  within  a  stiff, 
square  wall  fifty  feet  or  more  in  height. 

Let  him  avoid  this,  which  will  be  a  lasting 
source  of  regret  when  the  trees  have  become 
established.     And  he  may  avoid  it   by  a  little 


HO  IV   TO  PLANT.  117 

consideration  beforehand.  Instead  of  planting 
in  parallel  rows  along-  the  border  of  his  farm, 
it  will  be  better  to  plant  shelter-belts  only 
where  they  are  plainly  needed,  and  then  to 
plant  them  more  or  less  in  curved  lines  con- 
formed somewhat  to  the  natural  curves,  the 
elevations  and  depressions  of  the  fields  them- 
selves. Instead  of  a  continuous  belt  of  trees 
along  the  farm-border,  whether  upon  one  side 
or  more,  it  will  be  much  better  to  leave  open- 
ings here  and  there,  through  which  to  look  out 
upon  the  pleasant  stretches  of  country  around. 

By  a  little  forethought  in  this  respect,  se- 
lecting and  combining  various  kinds  of  trees, 
planting  some  upon  the  most  elevated  por- 
tions of  his  wide-spread  farm,  and  drawing 
about  his  dwelling  the  bright  birches  and  the 
cheerful  evergreens  for  shelter  and  compan- 
ionship in  the  long  winter,  he  may  make  his 
prairie  homestead  most  beautiful  while  doing 
what  will  make  it  also  most  productive. 

People  of  the  prairie  region  are  quite 
awake  to  the  desirableness  and  even  necessity 
of  extensive  tree-planting,  and  in  numerous 
publications    plans    have    been    suggested    for 


Il8         HAND-BOOK  OF  TREE-PLANTING. 

the  best  disposal  of  the  trees.  But,  so  far  as 
we  have  seen,  they  all  have  the  fault  of  ar- 
ranging them  in  stiff,  straight  belts,  or  in 
square  blocks  equally  stiff.  Now,  Nature  does 
not  give  us  straight  lines,  except  in  rare  in- 
stances. Only  Art  does  this.  Nature  moves 
and  builds  in  curves.  Clouds,  streams,  mount- 
ains, fields,  snow-drifts,  all  have  curved  and 
graceful  outlines.  The  flattest  prairie  ever 
seen  has  at  least  its  occasional  gentle  swells, 
as  though  struggling  against  the  irksome  mo- 
notony of  a  dead  level.  And  the  tree-planter 
may  well  take  a  lesson  in  this  respect  from 
Chicago  and  what  has  been  done  there  in  her 
now  beautiful  parks,  which  have  so  changed 
the  aspect  of  the  place.  That  city  is  now  an 
object-lesson  for  all  the  region  around,  not 
only  of  business  energy  and  success,  but  of 
taste  and  refinement.  So  effective  are  simple 
means  when  rightly  used.  In  like  manner 
may  any  dweller  on  the  prairies,  by  taking 
advantage  of  the  contours  of  his  fields  and 
massing  his  trees  in  graceful  forms,  make  his 
tree-planting  a  source  of  constant  beauty  as 
well  as  substantial  benefit. 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  1 19 

And  what  we  have  said  in  regard  to  plant- 
ing on  the  prairie  applies  more  or  less  to 
planting  everywhere.  In  the  door-yard  and 
on  the  lawn  care  should  be  taken  to  avoid 
the  stiffness  and  mechanical  look  which  will 
be  the  result  of  planting  in  straight  lines. 
City  lots  and  streets  are,  almost  necessarily, 
bounded  by  such  lines.  But  even  a  city  lot 
can  be  changed  from  a  square  inclosure  or  pen 
into  a  lovely  pleasure-ground,  by  a  little  care 
in  selecting  trees  and  shrubs  of  various  char- 
acter and  throwing  them  into  graceful  curves, 
instead  of  ranging  them  in  lines  parallel  with 
the  boundary  fences. 

Planti7ig  Evergreens. 

We  should  leave  the  last  of  our  questions 
answered  incompletely  if  we  were  not  to  add 
a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  planting  of  ever- 
greens, or  the  conifers,  including  the  larches 
and  some  others  which  are  not  strictly  ever- 
greens. These  trees  are  in  themselves  so 
beautiful,  and  add  so  much  to  the  general 
effect    of    planting,    by    the    pleasing    variety 


I20  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

which  they  give  when  mingled  with  other 
trees,  while  also  so  valuable  for  constructive 
purposes,  that  their  cultivation  is  very  desir- 
able. They  are,  in  a  special  sense  also,  the 
home  trees,  or  trees  to  be  planted  near  or 
within  sight  of  our  dwellings,  particularly  in 
the  northern  portions  of  the  country,  where 
winter  reigns  throughout  so  large  a  part  of 
the  year  and  the  snow  lies  like  a  winding- 
sheet  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  such 
places  how  cheerful,  how  like  the  presence  of 
friends,  is  that  of  these  trees  in  their  livery  of 
perpetual  green,  mocking  at  the  death-like  tor- 
pidity around,  making  the  very  snows  them- 
selves to  take  on  the  aspect  of  life  and  beauty, 
as  they  catch  them  in  their  extended  fingers 
and  wreath  them  in  graceful  folds,  or  wrap 
themselves  in  them  as  in  a  mantle  of  ermine ! 
How  grateful  the  presence  of  these  trees  also 
when  a  belt  of  them  is  interposed  between 
one's  dwelling  and  the  cutting  blasts  which 
pour  down  from  the  north !  What  a  perfect 
screen  also  they  furnish  with  which  to  shut 
off  any  disagreeable  or  unsightly  object  near 
the  dwelling  or  within  the  range  of  vision! 


//OIV  TO  PLANT.  121 

But  we  have  not  had  the  benefit  of  this 
class  of  trees  as  much  as  we  might  have  done, 
because  they  have  been  regarded  as  so  diffi- 
cult of  cultivation  that  many  have  not  even 
attempted  it.  The  frequent  failures  of  those 
who  have  attempted  it  have  given,  it  must  be 
confessed,  much  reason  for  discouragement. 
Who  has  not  seen  these  trees,  looking  bright 
and  fresh  at  the  time  of  planting  in  the  door- 
yard  or  on  the  lawn,  very  soon  beginning  to 
take  on  that  reddened  hue  which  is  the  sure 
sign  of  departed  vitality  ? 

The  most  frequent  cause  of  failure  has  been 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  planter,  and  often 
also  on  the  part  of  those  of  whom  he  has  pro- 
cured the  trees,  in  regard  to  the  peculiar 
character  of  this  class  of  trees,  and  the  pecul- 
iar treatment  therefore  demanded.  The  ever- 
green or  coniferous  trees  have  a  resinous  sap, 
to  say  nothing  of  any  other  and  minor  pecul- 
iarities in  which  they  differ  from  the  broad- 
leaved  or  deciduous  trees.  If  this  resinous 
sap  is  once  allowed  to  be  checked  in  its  flow 
or  hardened  by  the  exposure  of  the  tree-roots 
to  the   drying   influence   of  the  sun   or  wind. 


122  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

the  circulation  of  the  vital  fluid  is  stopped 
forever.  No  application  of  water,  though  in 
floods,  will  start  the  flow  again.  It  is  not  so, 
as  we  know,  with  other  trees. 


Aji  Imperative  Rule. 

Hence  the  imperative  rule  for  all  successful 
planting  of  evergreens — keep  their  roots  moist 
from  the  time  that  they  are  taken  from  the  earth 
until  they  are  planted.  We  mean  this  to  the 
letter ;  for  we  have  seen  trees  brought  to  be 
planted,  and  by  those  who  knew  something 
about  trees,  brought  apparently  in  good  con- 
dition, and  then  laid  upon  the  ground  to  be 
exposed  to  the  sun  or  wind  while  the  holes 
were  being  dug  for  their  reception  ;  and  this 
exposure  was  just  long  enough  for  them  to  be 
death-struck  and  the  holes  to  be  their  graves. 
It  requires  but  a  Httle  time  for  the  fibrous 
roots  to  become  dry,  whether  from  sun  or 
wind,  and  it  is  on  these  hair-like  roots  that  life 
depends.  When,  therefore,  one  is  about  to 
plant  evergreens,  he  can  not  be  too  careful  on 
this  point.     If  he  purchases  the  trees,  let  him 


HOW  TO  PLANT.  1 23 

purchase  only  of  such  dealers  as  know  the  pe- 
culiar nature  of  this  class  of  trees,  and  who 
have  honor  enough  to  pack  them  properly  for 
transportation.  Then,  when  received,  let  the 
planter  be  sure  that  they  are  not  exposed  to 
sun  or  wind,  but  that  their  roots  remain  cov- 
ered and  moist  until  the  appropriate  places  are 
made  for  them,  and  the  trees  are  then  planted. 
If  he  is  about  to  plant  from  his  own  nursery- 
beds  or  to  procure  trees  from  the  native  for- 
est, let  him  choose  a  still  and  cloudy  or  even 
misty  day  for  the  purpose.  Let  him  throw  a 
mat  or  blanket  over  the  roots  of  the  trees,  as 
he  takes  them  from  the  ground,  and  keep  them 
covered  until  he  reaches  the  spot  where  he 
intends  to  plant  them.  Having  now  the  ground 
properly  prepared  beforehand,  suitable  holes 
already  dug,  the  earth  made  fine,  as  it  should 
be,  so  that  it  can  be  brought  into  close  and 
firm  contact  with  the  delicate,  fibrous  roots 
with  their  waiting  mouths,  let  him  commit  his 
trees  to  the  ground  again,  with  the  care  and 
attention  which  dehcate,  living  things  may 
rightfully  claim,  and  he  may  retire  from  the 
field  with  a  confident  assurance  that  his  labor 


124  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

has  not  been  in  vain,  but  that  his  trees  will 
reward  him  amply  for  his  pains,  and  hold  out 
their  leafy  hands  to  thank  him  in  years  to 
come. 


USEFUL  TABLES. 


NUMBER  OF  TREES  ON  AN  ACRE. 

The  number  of  trees  needed  to  plant  an 
acre  of  ground,  at  various  distances  apart,  is  as 
follows : 

2  feet  apart  each  way 10,890 

3  feet  by  2  feet 7,260 

3  feet  apart  each  way 4,840 


4 

5 
6 

8 
10 
12 

15 
18 
20 
22 
25 
30 


2,722 

1,742 

1,210 

680 

435 
302 
200 

135 

no 

90 

70 

50 


126  HAND-BOOK  OF   TREE-PLANTING. 

Rows  six  feet  apart,  and  trees  one  foot  apart 
in  the  row,  7,260  trees  per  acre. 

Rows  eight  feet  apart,  and  one  foot  apart 
in  the  row,  5,445  trees  per  acre. 

Rows  ten  feet  apart,  and  one  foot  apart  in 
the  row,  4,356  trees  per  acre. 

One  mile  of  wind-breaks  or  shelter-belt  re- 
quires 5,280  trees  or  cuttings  for  a  single  row, 
one  foot  apart  in  the  row. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Seeds  and  Seedlings  of 
Forest  Trees. 

WHEN  one  decides  to  plant  a  forest,  it  is  usual  to  send  for  a 
nurseryman's  catalogue  and  make  an  estimate  of  cost  from 
catalogue  prices.  Forest  seedlings  must  be  sold  at  one  or  two 
years,  and  they  that  raise  seedlings  on  risk  have  often  to  burn 
thousands  of  unsold  stock.  Catalogue  prices  are  made  with  this 
contingency  in  view.  If  stock  is  ordered  a  year  or  so  in  advance 
and  large  numbers  taken,  very  low  figures  can  often  be  quoted. 
It  is  the  same  with  forest-tree  seeds.  Orders  should  always  be 
gpiven  in  advance  of  the  season  of  ripening. 

Our  firm  has  been  for  thirty  years  in  the  business  of  contract- 
ing for  forest-tree  seeds  and  for  forest-tree  seedlings,  and  is  well 
known  over  all  the  world. 


PENNSYL  VANIA 


THOMAS    MEEHAN, 

Oennantows,  Philadelphia,  United  States. 


Forest  Trees  for  the  Prairie, 

B7  TH£  1,090,  10,000,  100,1 


White  and  Green  Ash,  Maple,  Boxelder,  Cottonwood,  and 
Hardy  Oata/pa. 


FIRST-CLASS  NURSERY-GROWN  TREES. 

PRICES  THE  SAME  TO  ALL. 


For  information  and  prices,  address 

GEO.  H.  WRIGHT, 

Supt  Tree-Planting,  N.  P.  R.  R., 
tock  Box  95.  SIOUX  CITY,  IOWA. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


^  TREES.  I> 


P.  ^.  Eoster, 

BABYLON    NURSERY, 


BABYLON, 
LI.,  N.Y. 


This  fine,  new 
American  Pear 
originated  in 
Washington 
County,  New 
York,  and  is 
very  productive, 
russet-  yellow 
Avhen  ripe,  thin 
skin,  flesh  white, 
juicy,  buttery, 
flavor  neither 
sweet  nor  sour, 
ten  days  afterthe 
Bartlett,  as  good 
a  bearer  and  bet- 
ter fruit,  smooth, 
c!ces  not  crack 
nor  canker. 

This  pear  has 
shipping  prop- 
erties which  the 
Partlett  does  not 
possess.  It  can 
be  sent  to  Lon- 
don without  dif- 
firulty ;  its  beau- 
tiful appearance, 

proper   size,  and  fine  quality  will  place  it,  in  a  Etiropean  market,  in  advance 

of  any  pear  known  in  this  country. 

The  undersigned  have  tested  the  good  qualities  of  this  advance  in  new  and 

useful  acquisition.     Every  man  should  have  a  tree  of  this  variety  growing,  and  all 

fruit-raisers  should  plant  it  for  profit  and  family  use. 

r- CTTT>  ir  \r/~ IP c  <  THOS.  MEEHAN,  of  " Gardiner's  Monthly." 
KEFEKhMLK^.  ^  g    ^    WILLARD,  Geneva,  N.  Y. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Now  is  the  time  to  prepare  yonr 
orders  for  NEW  and  K AKE  Fruit 
and  Ornamental  Trees,  Shmbs, 
Evergreens,  BOSES,  VINES,  ETC.  Besides  many  desir- 
able Novelties;  we  oflfer  the  largest  and  most  complete  general 
Stock  of  Fruit  and  Ornamental  Trees  in  the  U.  S.  Abridged  Cat- 
alogue mailed  free.  Address  EIXW ANGER  &  BAKRY, 
Mt.  Hope  Nurseries,  Rochester,  N.  T. 


RuMSON  Nurseries. 

Established  1854.  Centennial  Award,   1876. 

A  large  STOCK  OF  HARDY  SHADE-TREES,  including  Maples 
(in  variety),  Lmdens,  Elms,  Beeches,  Horse-chestnut  (red  and  while  flowering), 
Maiden-Hair  Tree  (Salisburia),  Willows,  etc.,  etc.;  Shrubs  and  Vines;  Rare 
Plants,  Evergreens,  Fruit-Trees,  and  Vines. 

The  supply  depot  of  Mulberry-Trees  for  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

Now  introducing  the  great  NEW  QUINCE,  Much's  Prolific, 

tbe   most  w^onderful   of  all   new   fruits.     Circular  and  photograph  of 

branch  of  fruit  free,     fj^^f-^  ^  BORDEN,  Managers,  Red  Bank,  N.  J., 

and  31  Fulton  Street,  New  York. 


PEACH-TREES  A  SPECIALTY. 


R.  S.  JOHNSTON,  Stockley,  Del. 


Bryant  Leaflets. 

SELECTIONS  FROM  THE  POEMS  OF  BRYANT  ON 
LEAFLETS,  FOR  SCHOOLS,  HOMES,  AND  LIBRA- 
RIES.     With  Illustrations. 

Compiled  by  JOSEPHINE   HODGDON. 

8vo.     Book  and  Leaflets,  price,  60  cents;   or  separate,  30 

cents  each. 

New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  i,  3.  &  5  Bond  St. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


s«'«?£»esia^3*K»!^*:5g&- 


NEARLY  HALF  A  MILLION 

GARDENS 

Were  Sown  and  Planted  In  1883,  with 

Peter  Henderson  &  Go.'s 

$[[D$  AHD  PLIIIITS. 

Catalogue  for  1884,  free  to  all. 

PETER  HENDERSON  &  CO., 

I  35  &  37  Cortlandt  Street,  N.  Y. 


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and  Hygiene.   By  T.  H.  Huxlet  and  W.  J.  Youman^ 

12mo.     $1.50. 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers ;  or  sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of 
price. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

U  8.  &  6  Bond  Stbxsx.  Nsw  Yosk. 


